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ABOUT SARAH LUKENS
sarahlukens@valleytherapyassessment.com
(413) 200-0669
I grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, and then moved to Colorado for college. I received an undergraduate degree from Colorado College, where I majored in Psychology and had a minor in Psychoanalysis.
While in college, I fell in love with Colorado, and stayed there after graduation. I began working with youth and families in residential treatment centers, including at a wilderness therapy program for families and at-risk youth. I also worked as a therapeutic staff member for adults who had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons, and spent almost two years as a case manager within a community mental health center.
Graduate Education and Training
GAD, hoarding, and body-focused repetitive disorder (e.g. trichotillomania, excoriation), therapy for severe and persistent mental illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorders), providing therapy and assessment at a college counseling center, and animal-assisted therapy.
Throughout graduate school, I was a bit of a theory-nerd (and still am). Rathan than ascribing to one "camp" within psychology, I was mentored by professors who specialized in psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive theories, and was fascinated by the similarities between these philosophies and how integrating wisdom from each of them helped me become more flexible and nuanced in my thinking. I also worked as a graduate teaching assistant for classes on behaviorism, clinical neuropsychology, and statistics.
I completed an APA-accredited internship at the University of Denver Consortium, in the University Health and Counseling Center. After receiving my degree, I completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at Rocky Mountain Psychology, where I received advanced training in evaluations related to parental capacity, forensic assessment and expert testimony, neuropsychological assessment, and the practice of psychotherapy.
I attended graduate school at the University of Denver, earning a master’s and then a doctorate degree (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology.
My training included advanced practica related to school counseling, psychological assessment, consultation within child welfare, exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, OCD,
Colorado: Beginning My Psychology Practice
I began my private practice in Denver, Colorado in 2018. In my practice, I provided therapy for teens, adults, and couples, and conducted various types of psychodiagnostics evaluations related to ADHD, learning disabilities, and most major mental illnesses. I also conducted forensic evaluations, including working with 12 counties across the state of Colorado providing evaluations, consultation, and testimony related to issues of parenting and parental capacity for dependency and neglect cases and custody cases. I also conduced capacity to stand trail evaluations, and evaluations for probation departments.
In addition to working as therapist and evaluator, I taught psychology to graduate students at the University of Denver in the International Disaster Psychology Program, Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program, and Graduate Counseling Psychology Program, and taught undergraduate students at Regis University. I also supervised graduate students at the doctoral, master's, and postdoctoral level.
Current Practice: Valley Therapy and Assessment
In 2024, my husband and I moved back to my hometown of Amherst Massachusetts, where I founded Valley Therapy and Assessment, and have slowly worked to build it into a group practice with the goal of creating a community of clinicians who strive to provide excellent mental health care, approach clinical work with curiosity, treat people as individuals rather than as diagnoses, and believe that mental health is about much more than alleviation from suffering.
Approach to Therapy
Note: I personally conduct all psychological evaluations at Valley Therapy and Assessment. I am also the sole provider to engage in forensic work. To learn more about those aspects of my practice, please:
Generally, I tend to be direct and open as a therapist. I believe that for therapy to be effective, it needs to be lively and collaborative. Thus, in therapy, I want to make sure that we are doing something together. Therapy should never cause you additional pain; however, it can often "stir up" pain that you already carry, especially if we're focusing on the things that matter most. If we're doing therapy well, it will involve exploring things which feel vulnerable, risky, or shameful. You may not leave every session feeling better; however, my goal is that by the end of our work together you feel lighter, happier, and more able to be your full self. Thus, I often think of therapy as similar to working out at the gym: both can initially lead to feeling sore and tired, but overtime you should feel stronger, enlivened, and empowered.
I do not believe any single psychological theory or therapeutic approach holds all the answers. I have have a deep appreciate for many theories, and have found that changing perspective from one theory to another can often help "unstick" things. As a therapist, I am trained and utilize psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavioral approaches. These include Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Exposure Therapy (ERP), Family Systems, Attachment Theory, and Self Psychology. The extent to which any of the these theories and methods will be used depends entirely on the specific case. However, in general, I tend to use dynamic and relational approaches to therapy, and then integrate behavioral interventions when indicated.
My areas of specialty include anxiety, OCD, depression, relationship difficulties, trauma, intimacy concerns, and conflict within families. However, these are far from the only mental illnesses I have experience treating. More importantly, I believe that diagnoses almost always fail to capture the nuance of what a person is struggling with and what they need from therapy. I have noticed that most of the people who come to see me are stuck in patterns where they find themselves repeatedly experiencing an unwanted emotional reaction/symptom, a particular interpersonal dynamic, or doing a behavior they wish they could stop. To me, understanding and appreciating these patterns in their full complexity is more important than a diagnosis.
If you are interested in knowing more about my experience in any particular area or diagnosis, please contact me.