Meet Sara Sincell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Sincell.

Sara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) who utilizes creative intervention and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) in my therapeutic work. I currently see both individuals and couples in private practice in North Hollywood/Studio City/Toluca Lake. (all therapy is currently being done remotely via Telehealth in lieu of the pandemic)

Being a therapist has fulfilled a second career for me, having spent 15 years as a professional actress/comedienne. I learned over time that both endeavors are inspired by the love and belief in people, and each have created a space for healing.

During my time as a full-time performer, I traveled nationally with a 2-woman comedy show that used love and laughter to challenge inequality, gender conformity, racism, misogyny/patriarchy, social injustice, and relational dynamics. I found an unmatched connection to other humans from all walks of life during and following these shows. It was so obvious that sharing our stories was not just fun or entertaining, but in fact vital to our survival and well-being as a species and to addressing and ultimately changing what is not working.

This lead me to returning to school for a more concrete path to exploring my own existential musings. I was forced to dive deep-to further look at my own wounding and behaviors and in time experience my own healing and growth (with the utmost humility to a process that is ongoing).

My Bachelor’s degree is in Acting (Shenandoah University Conservatory, Winchester, VA) and my Master’s degree is in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy (California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA), marrying my passions of the performing arts and storytelling, and an unending curiosity in how we each might better understand our narratives so to become empowered in shifting our experience in the world.

As evolved creatures on this planet, we all experience wounding-managing grief and loss, fear and confusion, success and failure, among any number of other humanities. And we all endure traumatic events or circumstances, some far greater than others and some to unimaginable, unspeakable degrees. I believe that we navigate our experiences and somehow survive them through an innate and neurobiological sense of creativity. So too do I believe that honoring and validating, thus healing our wounds-both individually and collectively-is also through a creative process.

I spent time in graduate school working at San Quentin State Prison, performing in and facilitating Shakespeare plays with incarcerated men. The plays were used as a tool to externalize power and privilege, social and criminal justice, and the complex dualities of perpetrators and victims, among other dynamics. Actors were offered an outlet to express emotions and create characters with both gifts and flaws. This creative and conscious work provided a practice in collaboration and allowed for community building. It was a powerful arena that taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

I later worked in substance and process addiction treatment. It was there that I began to combine mindfulness and creative intervention with a better understanding of the neurobiology of the brain, learning how established neural pathways govern our experience and beliefs about self. I saw how shame is a key player-a “silent violence”, as Brené Brown says-in the perpetuation of suffering and all the ways it can manifest. EMDR became an integral part of my work with people in their healing. I became fascinated by the fact that we have the capacity to create new neural pathways and ultimately shift the story of self within the narrative.

As we face and more ardently work to change systems of inequality that have caused such harm to the individual and the collective, we must be creative in conceptualizing a more equitable and sustainable world. In my life and in my work, it is among my priorities to be active in being Anti-Racist and LGBTQIA+ affirming. I believe in the necessary exploration of all systems of power and privilege so as to accurately validate every individual experience.

My most recent work has been in practice with those who have felt a calling to look closer at their suffering, with a desire to dig deeper into the impact of these life experiences and to explore the possibility of a new reality. We are truly in an unprecedented time, where we now can’t un-know our resilience and capacity to survive significant loss. We have been pushed into our most raw and authentic truths, and not changing is no longer an option.

I believe that our stories, told and heard, will set us free.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Making the decision to go back to school came with some struggle. I felt in some ways that I was leaving my identity as an artist. I have found, six years later, that my education has only enhanced my capacity and depth as an artist. I still perform and write, and I find that through the process of storytelling (therapy), we are all creatives. I often utilize humor in my work, as I find comedy to be a vehicle for truth and laughter to be medicine. They say, “laugh or cry”. I say both/and.

Additionally, I made a huge financial choice in going back to school. There is not enough time to go into all of the political aspects of seeking an education/higher education in this country. I hope that the current administration reconsiders facets of student-debt relief. It really is an unfortunate and crushing problem.

I will also add that my degree in particular challenged me to “do the work” so that I can do the work. I always say, “never trust a therapist who doesn’t have a therapist”. The three actual years of graduate school were emotionally grueling in some ways, as I faced my own struggles. Additionally, a clinician has to obtain 3,000 hours of clinical work before becoming fully licensed, so I spent another 2+ years after graduation scraping by financially as an Associate to gain my hours, all while working with acute cases and individuals.

I specialize in trauma, so it has really been something to show up to this work during a global pandemic. This collective trauma has caused personal traumas to emerge, as we have all had to spend time with self in the “being”, rather than the “doing”. I also became licensed during the pandemic, so I had to spend long weeks studying for an intense clinical exam in addition to carrying a 20 client caseload.

All of this said, it has been worth it. I am thrilled to join with people in this most important and vulnerable work, an honor I do not take lightly. I bow in gratitude for how my passions have come together to serve in this way. To witness someone as their own healer is such a gift.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Specialties: Trauma (EMDR Practitioner)

Drama Therapy

Creative Mindfulness

*Extensive training and experience with clients suffering from sexual abuse, addiction, and eating disorders

Additional training sometimes incorporated in work:

Reiki

Sound Healing

Psychodrama/Sociodrama

I think I am most proud of and what sets me apart from other clinicians is the combination of both of my careers that have culminated in a unique way. I have been both storyteller and witness to story, creating a holistic approach to the power of our narratives.

We are such complex beings, both fragile and resilient. Essentially I am in love with people. I am hungry for the intricate threads of someone’s tapestry. I approach my work both scientifically and spiritually, meaning I talk chakras, vibrations, dimensions, divinity, femininity, masculinity, etc., AND I talk neurobiologically, chemically, physically (physics), somatically, physiologically.

I am not everyone’s cup of tea, but I believe I have the capacity to connect with a wide variety of people based on my experience, passion, and education.

What are your plans for the future?
I have so many plans! Hahaha. Where to begin…

I want to continue in my learning journey, as there is so much new information about trauma and how it affects us.

I want to become a more vocal advocate in the idea and approach of- “What happened to you?”, rather than “What is wrong with you”, when dealing with people we do not understand. There is so much divisiveness in the world and in our country, I hope to utilized a deeper understanding as a way to bring the collective back together. I equally want to be vocal in my intolerance of inequality and injustice. Maybe this will all become a book one day.

I look to continue in my energy work, both Reiki and Sound Healing, among other alternate modalities. Tones, vibrations, and touch are so important, and tapping into them has been supportive of the clinical work I have been doing. Our words often limit us, so I like to find our other, perhaps even more powerful ways of expressing and shifting. We are verbal beings, but we are also feeling, moving, dancing singing beings!

And finally, I am just in the early stages of launching my own private practice. I have been working through Silverlake Psychology here in the Valley and in Silverlake for 2.5 years, and I am about to take the full leap into my own practice. I am both nervous and excited for this next step. I have many ideas not fully developed, and I want the platform to execute them in time. Check out my website for more details.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@sarasincell.com or sarasincell@hushmail.com
• Website: sarasincell.com

Image Credits
Armen Tahanian