True North Wilderness Program is excited to welcome Sarah Lawrence, LCMHC, to the Clinical Team. She officially joined the team on April 25th and will carry on the True North tradition of providing outstanding clinical care for adolescent girls.
Sarah is thrilled to return to her East Coast roots after spending many years in the Mountain West. She brings with her many years experience working with adolescents and families in wilderness as well as residential settings. Growing up in northern New Jersey, Sarah knew from a young age that the outdoors provided a valuable place for introspection, often choosing time in the woods and spending her summers on a farm in upstate New York. Heading out to a ranch in Wyoming during high school transformed Sarah’s view of wild places, engraining in her a deep sense of the power of nature as well as the value of strong relationships.
Sarah earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Hamilton College, where she knew she wanted to work with young people, studying science and using the outdoors as a classroom. She spent her college summers working at camps and programs for youth and adolescents, and found that building relationships and mentoring youth in natural settings provided her with immense fulfillment. Sarah’s travels during college included semesters in Nepal and New Zealand, where she continued to practice her love for learning about people and hearing their stories.
After college she returned to the West, living in Montana and Wyoming for 13 years, where she spent time teaching at the Teton Science School in Jackson Hole. It was during this experience that she recognized her calling as a therapist, finding that she deeply enjoyed forming strong relationships and helping adolescents navigate this challenging phase of life. She moved to Montana to work at Three Rivers Montana, a wilderness therapy program, and went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Montana State University in 2008.
Shortly after graduation, Sarah moved to Eureka, Montana, joining the clinical team as a therapist at the Chrysalis School for adolescent girls. She later returned to Bozeman where she spent time in both community mental health and private practice, focusing on helping adolescents, young adults, and families. Her recent move to Vermont stemmed from a desire to return to her roots and move closer to her own family. She is deeply excited to return to working with adolescents in a wilderness setting.
When Sarah is not working in the field, she spends much of her time trail running around Vermont, playing outside with her husband, young daughter, and imported Montana cattle dog, or cooking delicious meals.