About Sara
Sara Barrientos is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 13 years in practice. She helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem, depression, and life changes. She also supports those facing relationship or parenting concerns and people coping with trauma, sleep issues, anger, bipolar symptoms, and intimacy-related worries.
She uses clear, practical methods in sessions. Conversations focus on real goals and small steps that can be tried between meetings.
Background and approach
She aims to listen without judgment and to encourage each person to find what works for them. Sara's background includes work across several settings since 2007. Much of her recent work has been in an intensive outpatient group program for older adults managing depression and anxiety.
She has also worked with adolescents, adults, and people experiencing homelessness earlier in her career. In sessions she draws on a mix of approaches such as cognitive behavioral techniques and values-focused exercises. These are used to reduce unhelpful thoughts, build coping skills, and clarify what matters to each person.
She also applies solution-focused strategies to set achievable short-term goals. Sara describes herself as compassionate and motivating. She helps people set personal goals, stay accountable, and try practical strategies that fit their daily life.
Her Illinois practice is conducted in English and is oriented toward steady, manageable progress.
How specific approaches work in online sessions
Sara uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors. CBT often includes practical exercises and experiments that can be done between sessions to reduce anxiety and improve mood.She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which centers on identifying personal values and taking committed action toward them. ACT helps when people feel stuck by anxiety, grief, or life transitions by clarifying what matters and building small, values-driven steps.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. She will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and then try methods that fit those needs. The choice of techniques is collaborative and can be adjusted over time.
Online formats include video, phone, live chat, and text messaging, which makes it easier to fit sessions into a busy life. Video is useful for full conversations and visual cues, phone can work when bandwidth is limited, and messaging can support brief check-ins or ongoing accountability between sessions. These options give flexibility while keeping the focus on practical progress and manageable goals.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Parenting issues
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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