About Sara Ouimette, LMFT in Oakland, CA
The path to healing begins with a single turning inward.
I’m Sara, a depth psychotherapist based in Oakland, California. I offer therapy for highly sensitive people, women, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and those navigating profound life transitions—including grief, trauma, burnout, major surgery, illness, and the moments that ask us to become someone new.
Many of the people I work with are the ones who have spent their lives caring for others. They are thoughtful, deeply feeling people who long for connection, meaning, and a place where they no longer have to carry everything alone. Whether you’re facing an identity crisis, recovering from a life-changing medical experience, grieving a loss, or simply sensing that the life you’ve built no longer fits, therapy can become a place to come home to yourself.
My work is warm, intuitive, soulful, and rooted in depth psychology. I believe healing happens in relationship—when we feel truly seen, accepted, and allowed to unfold at our own pace.
I’m not here to fix you. I’m here to walk beside you as you begin to understand yourself in a deeper way—to grieve what was lost, reclaim what has been hidden, and rediscover the truth of who you are.
How I Got Here
Like many therapists, I was first drawn to this work through my own healing. There was a time when I felt like something was wrong with me—like I was too much, too emotional, too sensitive. It was through depth psychotherapy that I began to understand myself, not as broken, but as someone carrying pain that made sense. Someone who had learned to survive in a world that didn’t always know how to care for sensitivity.
I learned about intergenerational trauma. I learned about being a highly sensitive person. I began to feel compassion for the child in me who had never felt quite safe, who had always been watching, adapting, intuiting. And I began the slow, tender work of reparenting her—of building a life that felt aligned with who I truly am.
Over the years, my work has continued to deepen—not only through advanced training, but through witnessing the extraordinary resilience of the people I’ve had the privilege to sit with. I’ve come to understand that healing isn’t only about resolving symptoms. It’s about making meaning of our suffering, reclaiming lost parts of ourselves, and discovering that even life’s most painful experiences can become catalysts for growth, wisdom, and transformation.
This work has changed me. It still does.
My Approach
Therapy with me is not formulaic. It’s relational, dynamic, and emotionally attuned. I draw from Jungian, psychodynamic, and transpersonal traditions, but more than anything, I work with you—your story, your symptoms, your images, your longings.
Together, we explore unconscious patterns, inner child wounds, spiritual questions, and the shadowy places that want your attention. We listen to the body. We welcome dreams. We make space for grief, for complexity, for silence. There is no rush.
This is therapy that honors the mystery—without losing the ground.
“Sara approaches painful experiences with a depth of compassion that made it easier for me to stop being so hard on myself. Her way of holding what I was going through helped me start offering myself the same kindness.”
“There’s something about the way Sara listens that makes it easier to say things I didn’t even realize I was carrying. Over time, our work has helped me understand parts of my life that once felt confusing and heavy.”
Who I Work With
I work with people who feel deeply, carry a lot, and are often the ones others turn to for support. Many of my clients are highly sensitive, thoughtful, and compassionate people who are seeking a deeper understanding of themselves and their experiences.
I’m especially drawn to working with:
• Highly sensitive people and deep thinkers who have often felt like they don’t quite fit
• Healthcare professionals, caregivers, therapists, women, and other helpers who spend their lives caring for others and are ready to receive care themselves
• People navigating grief, trauma, burnout, illness, or major life transitions
• Those facing a health crisis, recovering from a significant medical experience, or adjusting to a changed relationship with their body and identity
• People reclaiming their inner voice, healing from painful past experiences, or exploring spiritual questions and meaning
• Clients integrating psychedelic experiences or exploring their relationship with cannabis
Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, in transition, or quietly aware that something within you is asking for attention, you’re welcome here.
Therapy is a space to slow down, listen deeply, and begin to understand the parts of yourself that have been waiting to be known.
If you’re ready to begin—or simply curious—I’d love to connect. You don’t need to have the perfect words or a clear plan. Just bring yourself.
Psychotherapy Education & Training
Licensed psychotherapist in California (LMFT #93508)
B.A. in Psychology, Claremont McKenna College in California
M.A. in Integrative Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco, CA)
Advanced training in psychodynamic psychotherapy, The Psychotherapy Institute (Berkeley, CA)
Training certificate in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Adherence rating training certificate in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy with M.A.P.S.
Ongoing, weekly professional consultation with a senior psychotherapist
Currently training in Jungian-Oriented Psychotherapy at the Jung Institute of Northern California (4th year of ongoing training)
Professional Memberships and Affiliations
Member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
Member of The Psychotherapy Institute (Berkeley, CA)
Member of The Jung Institute of Northern California (San Francisco, CA)
Formerly on the Board of Directors at SHINE Collective (a non-profit for survivors of psychedelic harm)
Former member of The Society of Cannabis Clinicians
Adherence Rater and volunteer with the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (Now Lykos Therapeutics) 2016 - 2022
Listed on the Perception Restoration Foundation Specialist Directory
Listed on the Highly Sensitive Person Therapist Directory on Dr. Elaine Aron’s website
Ordained minister with the Universal Life Church
Trained End of Life Doula with INELDA (International End of Life Doula Association)
Volunteer therapist with the Women’s Cancer and Resource Center