Sarah Young, MSMFT

Pronouns - she/her

(Virtual sessions only)

Approach to Therapy:

“Definitions come from the definer, not the defined” (Toni Morrison).

Collectively, we are in a shared trauma; our stress and our need to be supported is universally amplified. Being a therapist is a sacred calling. Creating a holding space for suffering and fostering a shift toward client healing are vital to my practice.

Given the diversity of human experience each client brings, there is not a shortage of paths to conceptualize constraints and support clients to bring about the change they wish to see in their lives. I believe that if the science of therapy is mapping out problematic patterns and moving towards a solution, the compassion of therapy is in standing shoulder to shoulder with my clients to understand their unique context. My work is in empowering clients to be the definers of their own narratives and builders of their own intentional path.

Clinical Interests:

I provide therapeutic services to trans and gender non-conforming individuals, high conflict couples, children/adolescents, adults, families, multicultural couples, and groups.

I have specialized training in 

• the treatment of intimate partner and interpersonal violence, 

• trauma

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, 

• and intuitive eating/body positivity. 

In addition, as a member of the Violence Intervention Project and group facilitator, I actively support its mission to dramatically reduce intimate partner violence and sexual misconduct.

As a social justice therapist, I am committed to confronting systems of oppression and power and to helping my clients achieve positive change in their lives. I practice models of therapy that are rooted in collaboration and shared experiences. 

As a queer woman, I am an LGBTQ+ affirming provider committed to providing a safe and empowering therapy experience for all people using a strength-based, resiliency model approach.

I use integrative, empirically-informed therapeutic techniques including Integrative Systemic Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral couple’s therapy, internal family systems, and structural family therapy.

I utilize strengths-based holistic treatment models that are founded in multicultural frameworks.  

Education and Training:

I hold a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Marriage and Family Therapy program. Prior to becoming a marriage and family therapist, I taught and supervised early-career indigent criminal defense lawyers and students at Georgetown Law. I have a decade of experience in public defense: I have headed social justice organizations, co-lead a reentry program for detained youth, and fought for incarcerated client’s fundamental civil rights. In these seminal experiences, I observed the healing nature of providing a holding space for their pain and discovered that the moments I valued most in my career were rooted in the power of interpersonal relationships. These experiences inform my relational approach with clients, I utilize a strengths-based holistic treatment models that are founded in multicultural frameworks.  

3 Things I love:

I am passionate about civil rights, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and body positivity.

Sarah can be contacted at: sarah@amandaatkinschicago.com. Sarah also heads up AACG’s social media, blog, and newsletter.