Therapist profile
Sara Contreras, LMFT
California
California LMFT helping with codependency and relationships
Continue with SaraWhere Sara stands
- Credentials
- LMFT
- License
- LMFT, California / 139564
- NPI
- 1740754993
- Experience
- 5 years
- Languages
- English
- Location
- California
About
- Attachment work
- CBT tools
- EMDR for trauma
About Sara
Sara Contreras is a California licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) with five years of clinical experience. She helps people coping with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, and major life changes. Sara also supports people facing relationship and intimacy concerns, sleep problems, parenting strains, and issues around identity such as LGBT matters and ADHD-related challenges.
She draws from attachment-based and client-centered approaches to focus on how relationships and early patterns shape current reactions. Sara uses practical tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and test different behaviors. She also integrates EMDR when trauma memories are a core concern and existential ideas when people are questioning meaning or life direction.
In sessions she pays attention to how people manage care for others and themselves, including codependency, caregiver stress, and boundaries. She talks through patterns like people-pleasing, trouble saying no, and losing a sense of self in close relationships. Conversations include straightforward skill practice and checking what does or does not work in daily life.
Sara is based in California and works in English. She uses a subscription model for sessions that can be canceled at any time; costs vary by location. To get started clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a first session via the site’s online options.
Her availability often includes Monday and Wednesday evenings, some Thursday evenings, and morning appointments by arrangement. Scheduling is coordinated directly so timing can fit around work and caregiving demands.
How sessions work
How her approaches translate to online work
Attachment-based work looks at patterns in close relationships and how those patterns affect daily choices and feelings. Online sessions can use that lens to map repeating interactions and practice new responses to people-pleasing or fear of abandonment.Client-centered therapy focuses on what the client brings and on listening without judgment. In an online session this approach allows the person to lead with current concerns while the therapist reflects and clarifies what matters most right now.
Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches concrete skills to change thoughts and behaviors. Online meetings can include homework, brief in-session experiments, and simple behavior tracking that fit into a busy week.
Finding the right approach is something the therapist and client decide together. Sara will work collaboratively to choose which methods to try based on the client's goals, history, and comfort level. That choice can shift as progress is made and priorities change.
The site notes session setup and scheduling steps but does not list specific formats in the biography. Confirm current session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit appointments into a workday, allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight, and remove travel time so therapy can slot into a busy household.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
5+ years
Listed in
California
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she address?
Sara works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, coping with life changes, and relationship and intimacy issues among other concerns.
How would she describe her therapy style?
She blends attachment-based and client-centered approaches with practical CBT exercises, and uses EMDR for trauma when appropriate.
How much clinical experience does she have?
Sara has five years of professional experience practicing as an LMFT in California.
Where is she licensed and based?
She is licensed as an LMFT in California and conducts her practice from that state.
Which languages are supported?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can people outside the US work with her?
She is not currently accepting international clients.
How are sessions paid for?
Sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time and the cost varies with location.
What are the first steps to begin?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. A license can be checked with the state board.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are not safe at home, use the crisis and helpline numbers.