I’m an AllyBiography
Sarah Schaan is currently a Graduate Student at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. She has worked in healthcare for over 20 years in various roles, first as a Certified Nurse Assistant, psychiatric care technician and for the last 15 years as a Licensed Practical Nurse. She has worked in many different departments, initially in an inpatient psychiatric hospital and as a float nurse in medical specialties. Most recently, she worked as a clinical nurse in a sleep medicine department. She completed her Associates Nursing degree at M State in 2010, her Bachelors in Community Health in 2014 at MSUM. She transitioned into Social Work to focus on providing client therapy.
Counseling Approach and Clinical Focus:
She is excited to help clients navigate the complexities of chronic disease diagnoses and conditions impacting mental health. She has experience working with adult populations for insomnia and other sleep disorders and is working towards her Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia certification. She is interested in healthcare worker mental wellness, and she is also working towards her Adult ADHD Specialist Certificate. She is completing her graduate Capstone project on Internal Family Systems Therapy. Other therapeutic modalities that Sarah draws from are Person-Centered therapy, Emotionally-Focused Individual Therapy, Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy, and Motivational Interviewing. Her therapeutic style is warm, creative, uplifting, and compassionate.
Sarah grew up in North Dakota on a cattle ranch outside of Knox. She moved to Fargo with her family during high school and has a deep love for both rural and suburban lifestyles. She currently lives in Moorhead, MN with her spouse and 2 young children. In her free time, she likes to spot and identify plants, birds and bugs while on camping adventures, and she houses a silly number of indoor plants as well as prairie pollinators in her yard. She also enjoys teaching kids and adults about bicycle mechanics and was a mechanic and volunteer coordinator at the Fargo Moorhead Community Bicycle Workshop prior to their closure.
A message from Sarah:
It amazes me how much we go through in life and still end up being a stranger to ourselves and those closest to us. My goal is to help you map out your inner landscape, and I enjoy coming up with analogies and relatable stories to help build that understanding to make the invisible work of therapy accessible and easy to apply. I integrate the time-honored wisdom of mindfulness and somatic practices while exploring exciting insights from modern neuroscience. Through my years in healthcare, I have come to realize that the spiritual world and the physical world were always meant to complement each other as we grow.
I honor all cultures, and I consider it a privilege when I get to learn about backgrounds, languages and lives different from my own.
Education:
- Bachelor’s in Community Health
- Currently pursuing a Master’s in Social Work, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN
Associations/Memberships:
- National Association of Social Workers
- League of Women’s Voters Red River Valley Chapter
- North Dakota Human Rights Coalition