Sara Van Slyke, LMHC

Sara Van Slyke is a licensed mental health counselor with 13 years of clinical experience and an LMHC credential. She practices in Washington and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, and motivation struggles. Sara emphasizes each person's own strengths and choices when working toward change. She also supports people dealing with relationship concerns, family matters, grief, trauma, and intimacy-related issues.

Her approach is practical and down to earth. Sessions often include clear, teachable skills from cognitive behavioral therapy to help with unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. She draws on dialectical behavior therapy tools for emotion regulation and mindfulness practices to build calm and attention. Client-centered work guides conversations so the client’s priorities shape each session.

Sara aims to build a collaborative space where people can try small changes and notice what helps. She uses straightforward language and focuses on steps people can use between appointments. Progress is paced to each person’s needs and goals.

She works with concerns such as self-esteem, parenting stress, anger, career pressures, bipolar mood management, ADHD-related challenges, and eating issues. People often come to address a mix of practical problems and emotional pain. The first step is choosing to begin, and she recognizes that choosing therapy takes courage.

Sara offers support for coping with life transitions and for rebuilding motivation after setbacks. Her style is supportive, goal-oriented, and respectful of each person’s story.

How therapy approaches translate to online work

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and following what matters to the person. It helps when someone needs a space to talk, be heard, and decide goals at their own pace. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, teaches specific skills to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress when people want practical steps to try between sessions.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will work together with the client to choose which methods fit best based on needs, goals, and personal preferences. That choice can shift over time as goals change and progress is observed.

The biography does not list exact session formats, so confirm available options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-in sessions when needed. It also makes it simpler to maintain continuity across moves or schedule changes. Licensed professionals can adapt CBT and client-centered methods to work well in remote sessions, using home practice, worksheets, and guided exercises to support steady progress.