Sarah Mordell
Curious about therapy but feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start? Let's walk through it together. Finding someone who seems like a good fit for you is an important start. But reflecting on what you'd like to get…
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About Sarah
Curious about therapy but feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start? Let's walk through it together. Finding someone who seems like a good fit for you is an important start. But reflecting on what you'd like to get some help with will help you narrow down your choices. The area of practice drop down menu is a good place to start if you want to know common issues that people come to therapy for (and feel a little less alone).
What you might be looking for
If you're a good fit for my practice, you are having difficulties managing anxiety, depression, perfectionism, occupational stress, lingering impacts from complex trauma, or challenges with irritable bowel syndrome/inflammatory bowel disease or fertility. Don't be surprised if you tick more than one of those boxes. Sometimes these issues can present as feeling stressed by all the demands on your life or struggling to find the motivation to get anything done. You might feel stuck in the same old routine with aspirations to change but all you get is many frustrating false starts. You may find yourself endlessly scrolling and wondering where the evening went or rushing from must-do activity to must-do activity every weekend but feeling strangely unfulfilled.
Maybe you want long-term therapy or maybe you can just manage one or two sessions where we will try to get you on your way with a couple of solid interventions that will have the most impact for you. I do my best to make therapy work for you.
How I might be able to help
I'm a professional un-sticker. You would be amazed how a new perspective or some fairly simple interventions can make big shifts (although know that sometimes it takes a bit longer). I'm most interested in helping you find contentment and satisfaction, wherever you are in your life. We will do our best to make your emotions work for you rather than sapping all of your energy and building the life you want to live. Having said all this though, my favorite moments in therapy are when clients come up with their own interventions in or between sessions, because ultimately we want you to be your own therapist for the most-of-your-life you're not in therapy.
If you want to know more about my practice, feel free to keep reading or check out my website. If you're ready to book a session, click on the link to access a secure contact form. Otherwise, please keep looking. Whatever brought you here today deserves some attention. Try to set aside half an hour or an hour this week and pick the profile you connect with the most in that time to contact someone. What’s most important is to get started and you can tell pretty quickly if someone isn't a good fit, which will help you narrow down what works best for you. Good luck on your mental health journey.
I regret that I am not currently accepting clients for ICBC or Worksafe BC claims.
If you would like to know more about my professional qualifications, read on:
I became a registered psychologist in 2015 and kept a limited private practice since that time at the North Shore Stress and Anxiety Clinic. As life got more complicated, the commute became a bit too much and I left this outstanding group of clinicians (and highly recommended if you are on the North Shore) in 2023 for a practice in Vancouver. I worked primarily in the public service with BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services until 2024, where I worked with a diverse group of individuals presenting with anxiety, depression, and personality issues. With a foundation in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from my graduate work, I have continued to develop my training in the areas of Dialectical Behavior Therapy-informed treatment and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Through these approaches, we identify unhelpful thoughts and challenge them where we can, or learn to work around them to do what's important to you when we can't. We develop strategies to help you tolerate your emotions better and improve your coping rather than the avoidance we often engage in through distraction or numbing.
Prior to becoming registered, I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at Simon Fraser University. I completed a predoctoral residency at the Calgary Clinical Residency Program, with rotations in adolescent and geriatric mental health. My earlier training involved practicum placements at youth mental health centres and youth and adult forensic services. Somewhere along the line I realized that working with adolescents meant that much of my efforts were going towards building motivation for therapy and trying to seem cool enough to listen to, which I later discovered was not (or at least less) necessary with adults and we could spend more of our time actually making changes. The good news was that I was a bit of an overachiever and completed training with adults as well through the Simon Fraser Clinical Psychology Centre and since my registration have worked primarily with adults.
I believe in giving back to my professional community and I supervise student therapists from the Simon Fraser Clinical Psychology Centre as well as supervising practicum students and residents in my public service position. I have given a number of invited community talks on depression and anxiety in older adulthood. I am an examiner for the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC ensuring that new psychologists meet the rigorous standards for registration.
In my personal life, I enjoy going for walks at the beach with my family and rescue dog, sampling new flavours of ice cream and pie, and trying to keep my ever-growing collection of plants alive.