What people say about me....
Feb 2024
From my first session with Dr. Sarah Berger, I felt a clear difference to her approach and the concept overall of therapy to previous experiences I have had before when seeking help for childhood trauma.
I felt that Sarah made constant concious effort to observe, understand and adapt to my character and the specific language and ideas that would best resonate with me.
Sarah was encouraging and supportive when boraching memories which I found difficult to discuss and revisit, but she managed to make me feel safe and in control of my thought patterns during and post our sessions.
Sarah was great at gently enforcing structure so that progress could be monitored and importantly celebrated which gave me confidence that I greatly needed.
Sarah introduced me to EMDR therapy which at the time I was extremely sceptical of, but that has been completely life changing. EMDR has helped break the painful and unhelpful thouhts that have ruled much of my life up until now.
Sarah's focus on uncovering yourself as an authentic individual is the truly transformative part of her approach to therapy. Whilst not shying away from discussing trauma, Sarah helps you to realise your potential and live your life in a way that is meaningful and with menchamisms to support yourself going forward post therapy.
Working with Sarah has changed my life completely and I am extremely greatful and proud of the progressive she helped me to make.
Jan 2024
As someone who wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood, I’ve always been very self conscious, due to my shorter than average attention span. When I first spoke to Sarah I had been suffering with a low mood for 5-6 years, was socially unconfident and was also really struggling with generally poor self esteem. I didn’t really know what to expect upon beginning therapy but from the first meeting with Sarah I could tell that I was in more than capable hands.
What sets Sarah apart is her depth of knowledge across various different therapeutic techniques. This enables her to tailor your therapy plan to each individuals specific needs. We worked a lot on improving my low mood utilising her world class ‘EMDR’ approach by focussing on a few key memories that were re-enforcing my internal “I’m a bad person” message. By changing my perspective on these key moments, I can genuinely say my mental health and overall confidence has gone through the roof & I’m now at the point where I don’t dwell on these thoughts anymore whatsoever.
We also worked on developing clear and tangible goals so that I’m looking forward to the future instead of focusing on negatives in the past. As a result of this, I’m writing this now as I’ve literally just accepted a new job with a pay rise and am moving to Manchester!
I’ll never forget how Sarah has helped me; I’m happier, more confident and am genuinely looking forward to the future for the first time in years!
Above all else, she’s just a really nice person who is great to have a chat with - especially if you’re feeling down after a hard day. I can’t recommend her services more highly.
Dec 2023
Just an update I'm doing really well at moment Simon brought me a new car the weekend an automatic all electric car and today I drove out on my own for the first time since the accident and I'm so proud of myself. I don't think it would have been possible if not for your help using EMDR. I believe I can achieve so many things in life living for today is my motto thank you so much
Nov 2023
I came to see Sarah as I had been struggling with anxiety for years, easily triggered and living on autopilot. I knew I had what might be classed as some big and little t traumas. I had heard about EMDR and knew I had to do the work for myself and my wider family. Sarah made me feel comfortable from the outset and I knew I had paired with a fantastic therapist.
The end result has surpassed my expectations. I feel more able to deal with present day stressors and have a newfound appreciation for family members. I have soothed my inner child and aside from the EMDR (which is quite frankly amazing) she provided me with tools to feel my feelings. It feels like a declutter for the soul.
I can't recommend her enough and will be forever grateful.
Sept 2023
I really appreciate the sensitive manner in which you have engaged with me. Your welcoming nature and ability to allow for all my thoughts and feelings to be heard in a manner in which I do not feel ashamed of bringing these to you.
I was awe struck that you considered my case during the times between our sessions and provide some thoughts, options and models that might be useful for me with the symptoms and conditions I was presenting with. This really helped me to gain a new perspective on what was going on for me internally.
My mental health was in a challenging state when we first met as for the first time in a long time the traumas that I had experienced in my youth had emerged for me to experience them as flashbacks which was overwhelming as and when they were occurring. This resulted in high levels of sustained anxiety states and horrendous episodes of panic attacks. I was fortunate that during a panic attack someone had witnessed me in this state and mentioned the fact that I was experiencing trauma and that perhaps EMDR would be a good tool to support me with this.
In researching EMDR therapists in my local area I was filled with confidence by the high levels of studies, accreditation and certification which you had undertaken and successfully achieved. This was further evidenced by the initial conversation we had together and, on this basis, I did not hesitate to secure regular sessions with you to support me through this mental health crisis.
As I sit here typing this I am amazed that from our regular weekly or so sessions which have been carried out over the last 3 or 4 months my experience of life is a lot calmer now that most of my traumas have been processed to a manageable level. I would even go as far as to say that most of the times I feel normal. My experience of life today is that I am no longer in overwhelm and have a greater capacity to deal with the situations that life presents me with. I am not completely out of the woods, however I am fully resourced to be able to manage any darker spells more efficiently and independently. Suffice to say you have equipped me with the tools I need to be able to support myself at anytime without the need to remain in any challenging states for a protracted period.
As a result I can now see myself leading a fuller and engaged life with those around me and making choices that support my continued health improvements. If anyone had told me that this was possible when we first met, I would have never have believed them, if not for the fact that I sit here today feeling as normal as I ever have with the greatest gratitude that you have dedicated your life in this work supporting people with mental health challenges and providing them with the possibility that recovery is available for them when they make the first decision to seek support. I truly hope they do contact you as I have at first hand experienced a return to normality through your support.
June 2023
My mental health was in a challenging state when we first met as for the first time in a long time the traumas that I had experienced in my youth had emerged for me to experience them as flashbacks which was overwhelming as and when they were occurring. This resulted in high levels of sustained anxiety states and horrendous episodes of panic attacks. I was fortunate that during a panic attack someone had witnessed me in this state and mentioned the fact that I was experiencing trauma and that perhaps EMDR would be a good tool to support me with this.
In researching EMDR therapists in my local area I was filled with confidence by the high levels of studies, accreditation and certification which you had undertaken and successfully achieved. This was further evidenced by the initial conversation we had together and, on this basis, I did not hesitate to secure regular sessions with you to support me through this mental health crisis.
As I sit here typing this I am amazed that from our regular weekly or so sessions which have been carried out over the last 3 or 4 months my experience of life is a lot calmer now that most of my traumas have been processed to a manageable level. I would even go as far as to say that most of the times I feel normal. My experience of life today is that I am no longer in overwhelm and have a greater capacity to deal with the situations that life presents me with. I am not completely out of the woods, however I am fully resourced to be able to manage any darker spells more efficiently and independently. Suffice to say you have equipped me with the tools I need to be able to support myself at anytime without the need to remain in any challenging states for a protracted period.
As a result I can now see myself leading a fuller and engaged life with those around me and making choices that support my continued health improvements. If anyone had told me that this was possible when we first met, I would have never have believed them, if not for the fact that I sit here today feeling as normal as I ever have with the greatest gratitude that you have dedicated your life in this work supporting people with mental health challenges and providing them with the possibility that recovery is available for them when they make the first decision to seek support. I truly hope they do contact you as I have at first hand experienced a return to normality through your support.
May 2023
I had always felt that I didn’t need therapy, that I was able to self-heal my psychological challenges. However when I reached out to Sarah I had got to a point where I was incredibly anxious in social situations, I wasn’t enjoying work or life much and I was struggling with being a father to a 4 year old son. I had got to a point where although I could function and get through life, I wasn’t able to enjoy it anymore. This is why I reached out for help. When I spoke to Sarah on the phone to decide if I was able to work with her, I knew right away that she was the person who could help me. In that 20 minute conversation I felt she understood me quickly, and that gave me the confidence to book my first session with her.
Once we started therapy Sarah took me through formulations for different conditions until we found the right one, and we started to work on things through both talking therapy and EMDR. After the second session Sarah helped me to realise that I had pushed myself into a corner whereby I had stopped backing my own ability to succeed. This had meant I was staying in a job which I didn’t enjoy and which wasn’t fulfilling, instead of finding another way forward. She also helped me to understand that my childhood hadn’t been nourishing and failed to provide the support I needed. My own childhood trauma was now coming to the fore due to my fatherhood. These were huge realisations for me, which once understood, had an immediate positive impact on my mental health.
As a therapist Sarah is obviously able to listen but she also has the ability to pull you in the right directions quickly, allowing you to come to the reasons for how you’re feeling as well as helping to understand the things which will make you feel better. For me this meant that very quickly my mental health started improving. In only 6 months of Sarah’s help and guidance I was able to get to the point where I finally felt like myself again. I was no longer anxious in social situations, and I was able to see myself as a good father; something I have struggled with for the entire time I have been one. The therapy Sarah has taken me through has had a profound and life changing effect on my mental health and after our last session I can honestly say that I no longer feel I need therapy. I’m not saying I won’t need it again, but the changes in my mental health feel strong and lasting.
I cannot recommend Sarah highly enough and I am incredibly thankful that I was able to work with her.
April 2023
I am writing this testimonial to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for Dr. Sarah Berger, whose exceptional therapeutic support has been nothing short of transformative. Over the course of 40 sessions in 18 months, Dr. Berger has been instrumental in guiding me through a challenging period of my life, marked by dissociation, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks of past trauma.
Dr. Berger's incredible perceptiveness, bright intellect, and unwavering compassion have been the foundation of our therapeutic relationship. Her non-judgmental approach created a safe space for me to explore and address my challenges. Her ethical and professional demeanor, along with her commitment to my safety, provided an environment in which I felt comfortable navigating the complexities that arose during our time together.
Throughout our sessions, Dr. Berger consistently demonstrated strong boundaries and served as an exemplary role model for building trusting human relationships. Her dedication to my well-being and growth has profoundly impacted my health, my life, and the future of my family.
The support I received from Dr. Sarah Berger has been truly transformational, and I am beyond grateful for her unwavering commitment to my healing journey. It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Dr. Berger to anyone seeking a compassionate and skilled therapist. The impact of her expertise and care is beyond words and has genuinely changed my life for the better.
March 2023
From my first session with Dr. Sarah Berger, I felt a clear difference to her approach and the concept overall of therapy to previous experiences I have had before when seeking help for childhood trauma. I felt that Sarah made constant concious effort to observe, understand and adapt to my character and the specific language and ideas that would best resonate with me. Sarah was encouraging and supportive when boraching memories which I found difficult to discuss and revisit, but she managed to make me feel safe and in control of my thought patterns during and post our sessions. Sarah was great at gently enforcing structure so that progress could be monitored and importantly celebrated which gave me confidence that I greatly needed. Sarah introduced me to EMDR therapy which at the time I was extremely sceptical of, but that has been completely life changing. EMDR has helped break the painful and unhelpful thoughts that have ruled much of my life up until now. Sarah's focus on uncovering yourself as an authentic individual is the truly transformative part of her approach to therapy. Whilst not shying away from discussing trauma, Sarah helps you to realise your potential and live your life in a way that is meaningful and with menchamisms to support yourself going forward post therapy. Working with Sarah has changed my life completely and I am extremely greatful and proud of the progressive she helped me to make.
January 2023
I have just finished the last of my 8 sessions with Dr Sarah Berger.
I cant thank her enough for her help and professionalism in helping me through my PTSD. It's not easy admitting you need help with mental issues, but I'm glad I made contact with Sarah. I would encourage anybody who feels they need help to get in touch with a qualified person who would help them with their problems.
I will be forever grateful for her help and guidance.
Dr. Berger has a very warm, down-to-earth, engaging and empathetic style which assuaged my initial concerns about 'opening up' to her as I had never sought treatment before.
She is an excellent listener who probes effectively to help explore underlying issues to assist with identifying potential solutions in a professional, collaborative, kind and non-judgmental manner, whilst always keeping the patient's interests and needs firmly in focus.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Dr. Berger and would strongly urge anyone seeking a psychologist to consider her services as she is an experienced, qualified and very capable practitioner and also a very nice person to boot!
From the start of our sessions together, Sarah sought to work with me to help me understand myself better. I really appreciated the fact that she did not decide ahead of time which methodology to use, but rather, she got to know me and asked what I wanted to get out of the sessions. Throughout the whole process, I have felt that Sarah genuinely cared, which made being open and honest in sessions far easier. I also appreciated how practical the sessions were; it was not the case that we discussed things just for the sake of it, instead, each session had a practical purpose that I could take into my daily life. I genuinely feel that I understand myself and my anxiety far better as a result of my time spent with Sarah, and I have been equipped with real strategies to help me navigate my daily life.
I am so incredibly grateful for the expertise and knowledge offered by Sarah. When I first started attending sessions, I was desperately in need of help. I was depressed, unstable and in despair. Through one on one sessions, I was able to open up and express my concerns and identify my problems.
Sarah encouraged and guided me to express myself and I found that openly verbalising my problems meant I could take a step forward to resolving them.
Somehow being able to talk to someone, made me realise that I did have the capacity to cope. Sarah has a great depth of knowledge and experience and used various means to help me formulate a way of coping. Sarah, as well as being very intelligent, capable and knowledgable, is tremendously compassionate. Sarah helped me when no-one else could.
I am now enjoying a much more stable frame of mind and have learned coping mechanisms that mean I can enjoy my life again.
I without reservation, would recommend Sarah.
Sarah has a highly welcoming and friendly approach, is easy to talk to and completely non-judgmental. I felt like she took the time to really get to know me and what approach might work best; she took time to explain different approaches we could take and adapted things as we moved from one week to the next to make sure I was getting the most out of every session. With Sarah’s patient guidance, I feel like I have been on a very positive journey of self-discovery, which has changed my outlook in the long-term to a calmer, more self-compassionate and happier version of myself.
Sarah has a highly welcoming and friendly approach, is easy to talk to and completely non-judgmental. I felt like she took the time to really get to know me and what approach might work best; she took time to explain different approaches we could take and adapted things as we moved from one week to the next to make sure I was getting the most out of every session. With Sarah’s patient guidance, I feel like I have been on a very positive journey of self-discovery, which has changed my outlook in the long-term to a calmer, more self-compassionate and happier version of myself.
Thank you again for all the help you’ve given me! You really have changed my life around and I will forever be grateful to you for that! You’ve made such a massive positive impact to my mental health and I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough for that after all these years where I have been suffering in silence.
Dr Sarah Berger has literally changed my life! Having attended several cycles of CBT and meetings with numerous therapists to address my anxiety, she was the first practitioner who truly offered an alternative way of approaching my difficult feelings which actually worked! She is very down to earth, empathetic and makes you feel very comfortable as well as being extremely skilled at hearing your concerns and drawing out the underlying problems. I cannot recommend her services enough as I feel like I finally have my life back!
My daughter and I have both found Dr Berger to be very approachable and supportive.
She built a really good rapport with my daughter even though they had only been able to meet online. My daughter found her to be very friendly and within a couple of sessions felt able to share her difficulties and trust Dr Berger to help her.
Dr Berger has a wide range of techniques and strategies she can employ to support needs; my daughter is now feeling much more confident and feels she has the tools to use if and when things become difficult for her.
I met with Sarah for 6 weeks to discuss anxiety. I hugely benefited from my time with her and her ability to understand, support and challenge me. She used a variety of personalised techniques to help me think through patterns of behaviour and thinking that was hindering my wellbeing. From my initial telephone call with her, I felt that she understood me as a whole person and used her skills to make me feel confident in discussing my issues and aims. From this I have been able to utilise the various pathways that she gave me to help decrease my anxiety and get on with the important aspects of my life. I am in a significantly better place than I was at the start of my time with her and would not hesitate to recommend her to others. It was one of the best decisions I could have made to seek therapeutic support and I am so pleased I did it with Sarah. I am very grateful for her work with me.
Sarah has been so caring and sensitive throughout our sessions. I can’t fault her dedication and it is very clear that she is thinking about her client regularly outside of sessions and has an incredible memory for what I have been up to, what is currently plaguing my mind and how she can suggest new techniques for me to improve. She has genuinely felt like a friend and this has been the real difference between her and my previous experiences of therapy. She has made me feel completely at ease and welcome at every session and genuinely cares about the wellbeing of her clients. I have been able to make incredible progress in a relatively short space of time and this can only been down to her diligence and pro activity as a therapist. I use the techniques she taught me daily and I have no doubt where to go if I need help again in future.
Cannot stress how amazing Dr. Sarah Berger actually is. Previously had CBT and it wasnt for me, but Sarah has by far helped me the most. Very professional, very understanding and very good at what she does. I have learnt so much in the space of time I have had with her. Techniques and strategies learnt that I am using on a daily basis and are having a great impact on my life. Couldn't thank her enough for how far I have come because of her work. Would highly recommend sarah to anyone.
I will forever be indebted to Sarah Berger for the help, support and guidance she has given me over the past year. I found our sessions life changing and the decision to contact her was one of the best I have ever made; waiting nearly five months before our first session was worth the wait. I would not hesitate for one second in recommending Sarah if you are thinking about therapy. Sarah has helped me to understand my thoughts and emotions, and worked with me to understand myself and my surroundings; as well as enabling me to not let past experiences and trauma hold me back. Sarah would never take any credit for the progress I made but constantly encouraged me and was only proud with the huge steps forward I took. I would never have imagined speaking to a clinical psychologist but am so happy that I did. Thank you Sarah!!
Sarah was so organised with structure but flexibility in case something had happened in my week that needed to be prioritised in my sessions. They were 'my' sessions but I always knew she had a destination of where we wanted to get to as I had told her what I wanted to achieve and she also understood what I needed to face and overcome. Sometimes Sarah seemed to simply know what I was going to say and presented new and hard thoughts in a caring way, no matter how scary they might feel. Helping me make sense of what felt very complicated and muddled. Her memory of who and what was important to me and why was impressive; she really knows me and what my values are. Sarah will always be someone special in my life - I have never felt so cared for and helped by anyone. Nobody can take away trauma, but Sarah helped me live with it in a way I honestly never thought I would be able.
Sarah has been incredible for me, from start to finish. I say finish - but the journey her and I went on will stay with me forever, so in a way the comfort she helped me find will always be there.
I started with Sarah having carried a huge amount of multiple sources of trauma from an early age that I either thought would eventually subside, or that it was normal and everyone felt it. Neither were true, and after a failed attempt at some counselling a few years ago - I knew I needed to see a top level professional or my relationship with my new daughter, and my wife would be forever effected by the issues I was carrying.
Sarah made me feel like an old friend from day one. Very quickly I felt arriving at our session was the only part of my week, and life, where things stopped, and it was just all about me, how I felt and how I wanted to feel. With her guidance, confidence and compassion - and some very simple, yet cutting edge methods, we were able to smooth out the turbulent waters, and help me make sense of things.
I can’t recommend her highly enough - and the only sadness I’m now left with is that we don’t get to hang out once a week anymore.