Sarah Benitez-Zandi MSW LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Trauma & Identity Specialist
Relationship, Reproductive, and Life Transitions Mental Health
EMDR Certified • ART Practitioner
Advanced ART Training Completion Expected July 2026

What I Help With

1. Trauma & Nervous System Regulation

  • Complex PTSD, dissociation, developmental trauma

  • High-functioning clients with hidden or internalized stress

  • Therapists, physicians, first responders, and caregivers

  • Chronic over-functioning, people-pleasing, and emotional shutdown

  • Somatic and brain-based strategies for sustainable healing

I help people who “look fine” on the outside finally feel safe and whole on the inside.

2. Relational Wellness & Identity Evolution

  • Repairing communication in committed or evolving relationships

  • Non-traditional partnerships (polyamorous, queer, blended, kink positive)

  • Career transitions, caregiving roles, and identity shifts

  • Attachment wounds, codependency, and legacy burdens

  • Boundary work and emotional clarity

We work to deepen connection, clarify needs, and strengthen your relationship with yourself and others.

3. Reproductive & Life Transitions Mental Health

  • Fertility challenges, pregnancy, postpartum adjustment

  • Motherhood identity shifts and caregiving transitions

  • Major life transitions (divorce, relocation, burnout, career shifts)

  • Ambiguous grief and redefining your life in the in-between

I hold space for grief and growth to coexist; while helping you find meaning in what comes next.

4. Co-Parenting & Family Transitions

  • Separation and divorce adjustment

  • Two-home family planning and communication support

  • Conflict reduction and collaborative parenting

  • Strengthening stability and reducing impact on children

I help parents navigate difficult transitions with clarity, intention, and compassion.

I work with individuals, couples, and families navigating trauma, identity shifts, relational transitions, fertility journeys, grief, and the emotional weight that often exists beneath high-functioning lives.

Many of my clients look steady from the outside, capable, thoughtful, successful, while quietly carrying far more than they should have to carry alone.

My background includes complex trauma treatment, high-conflict relational work, and supporting professionals in leadership roles. With over a decade of clinical experience across trauma treatment, relational repair, and complex life transitions, I offer grounded, depth-oriented therapy for people who are ready to move beyond coping and into meaningful integration.

Here, you don’t have to be the one holding everything together.

Whether you’re untangling long-standing trauma, navigating burnout, facing a major identity shift, or restructuring family dynamics after separation, this is a space to slow down, integrate, and reconnect with yourself.

Why I Work in 90-Minute Sessions

Meaningful trauma work requires time.

Insight alone is not enough. The nervous system must feel safe enough to process, integrate, and reorganize patterns that may have been in place for years.

That is why my standard session length is 90 minutes.

Extended sessions allow space for:

  • adequate preparation

  • trauma processing without rushing

  • nervous system regulation before closing

  • integration and consolidation

Clients leave sessions grounded; not emotionally unfinished.

This structure supports deeper work with fewer sessions over time and aligns with how trauma healing actually occurs.

My Approach

I combine trauma-informed neuroscience with compassionate, personalized care.

My clinical lens is relational and integrative, drawing from:

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

  • Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

  • Somatic Therapy & Nervous System Regulation

  • Parts Work & Internal Family Systems–informed strategies

  • Attachment-focused, mindfulness-based, and cognitive approaches

This isn’t about “fixing” you.
It’s about honoring what brought you here and creating space for what’s next.

Ketamine-Assisted Therapy (Coming Soon)

Trauma Wise Healing will soon offer Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in collaboration with licensed medical providers.

KAP can support individuals experiencing:

  • Treatment-resistant depression

  • Chronic trauma patterns

  • Emotional rigidity

  • Persistent nervous system dysregulation

This offering will include structured preparation and integration sessions — ensuring the experience is trauma-informed, grounded, and meaningfully integrated rather than episodic.

This service will launch with structured screening, preparation, and integration protocols to ensure safety, depth, and clinical integrity.

Licensure & Access

I am licensed to provide clinical therapy in:

WI, IL, IN, IA, OH, PA, SC, MN, FL, CO, VA, and NC.

Coaching services are available nationwide and internationally where permitted.

All services are private pay and intentionally structured around depth, discretion, and thoughtful pacing.

Who I Work Best With

I work best with clients who:

  • are emotionally intelligent and ready to move beyond insight into integration

  • value depth over quick fixes

  • are ready for honest self-examination

  • want structured, intentional therapy

  • are seeking sustainable change, not just symptom reduction

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place.