AN AUSTIN, TX BASED PRIVATE PRACTICE

Connection-First Counseling

Leading you to a place of self-knowing so you can find your way home.

You’re really good at holding it all together—but you’re tired and fed up. It just feels like too much to carry. (And it is.)

As if the distressing state of the world wasn’t enough, there are the endless life transitions. The intensifying pressure to be good enough. The pain of struggling to start a family, or the worry that comes with becoming a parent. The sudden intrusion of anxiety, the compounding career, relational and financial obligations. The confusion of knowing who you are independent of the family you come from.

I know and I get it, because I’ve been there. It’s why I became a therapist, practically on accident…

 I’m Sara Miller.

A 40-something wife, mom, and Licensed Professional Counselor—and I’m really glad you’re here.

I came to this work slowly…reluctantly, and perhaps inevitably over the course of my lifetime trying to make sense of my own experiences. During a relatively short period of time, I dealt with infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, my mom’s cancer diagnosis, my dad’s death and the challenges it added to my already complicated relationships.

The intensity of it all finally led me to therapy.

The impact it had on my life was transformative and my appreciation for this field of work quickly grew. So despite an earlier career in corporate advertising & marketing, I pursued a graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling followed by completing 3,000+ clinical hours, receiving close mentorship and specialized training, and later starting my own practice.

  • I’m committed to my own anti-racist & social justice work and aim to provide a welcome space for anyone who seeks services with me.

As a therapist for adults, my approach is grounded in brain science & heart-to-heart connection.

I lean into the current understanding of neuroscience to help people move from stress and overwhelm to mental coherence—the state where self-understanding, mindfulness, and self-compassion thrive. 

Therapy is simply learning new things about yourself as you unlearn what’s unhelpful and not true. 

I’d be honored to guide you through that process so you can reconnect to yourself and what matters most.

Our time together is all about you.

And … you deserve to know a bit about who you’re sharing parts of your life with. (Keep scrolling for training and credentials.)

OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE, YOU’LL FIND ME:

  • Enjoying hilarious conversations and practicing boundaries with my twin sons.

  • Wordle-ing, puzzling and reading — sometimes trying to figure out the meaning of life, sometimes escaping with a novel.

  • Ordering takeout, unless my husband is cooking. “Mental health is an ongoing process of dedication to facing reality at all costs.” (M. Scott Peck)

Career highlights

  • Ongoing training in the application of Interpersonal Neurobiology to the clinical practice of therapy, led by Juliane Taylor Shore, LPC-S, LMFT-S, SEP

  • Three-year clinical internship under Juliane Taylor Shore, LPC-S, LMFT-S, SEP at IPNB Psychotherapy of Austin

  • Skills Certification in Dynamic Enriched Experiential Psychotherapy (DEEP) with Candyce Ossefort-Russell, LPC-S

  • EMDR training with Christy Sprowls, PsyD

  • Relational Life Therapy, Level 1

  • Selini Institute training in Maternal Mental Health: Infertility, Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders, Perinatal Grief & Loss

  • M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) | TX License #82228

Receive the care you give to everyone else in your life. 

What you’re experiencing — the thing you really want to change – makes deep emotional sense. With curiosity and compassion for your experience, I can help you change it at its roots.