Our approach to psychotherapy is trauma-informed, relational, and cultural.
We offer virtual individual and couple’s therapy for adults, as well as parent consultation, with a focus on Culture, Justice, & Liberation.
At Samavaya, we listen with compassion and curiosity to explore how past and present relationships and experiences shape how we engage with ourselves and others in the day-to-day.
We believe the therapy relationship is central to the change process, providing a container for much needed safety and working through conflict.
Together, we discover strengths and identify resources that can help effect meaningful and material change in your life and relationships.
We are committed to process, play, subversion, and dialogue.
An understanding of power and identity is central to our social justice approach.
We have experience using liberatory frameworks to address issues of race and racism, economic class and social capital, disability and ableism, immigration and documentation, questioning and coming out, gender identity, and religion and faith practices.
Specifically, we understand power not only as a hierarchical system but also as constitutive, shaping our desires, behaviors and understanding of reality. In this way, power continuously expresses itself through how people relate, shaping interpersonal and structural dynamics and informing how we understand ourselves and our communities.
We support the development of nurturing and intimate relationships and community that facilitate self-knowledge and self-actualization.
We’d love to get to know you.
Learn more about our therapy offerings and clinical staff below
Major LIfe Changes
Growing into Yourself
With each phase of life comes a further self-exploration and growth accompanied by loss and changes. Better understand:
identity development related to race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, immigration, ability, and adoption
independence in young adulthood
academic and professional changes
physical, emotional, and hormonal changes related to identity, aging, or parenthood
role changes in partnering, parenthood, & family role
midlife considerations and pivots
becoming a caregiver
Professional Development
Navigating Leadership and Academic Life
Whether in the academy, professional spaces, or community and movement spaces, get support addressing:
visioning and capacity building
practical boundaries and vulnerabilities
promotion, tenure, and leadership choices
dissertation and writing needs
imposter syndrome
community organizing
structural barriers and dynamics around race, class, gender, immigration, and other identity/power axes
your own unexamined frameworks or biases and unacknowledged power investments
Fertility, Pregnancy, Postpartum, and Parenting
Approaching Parenthood
Whether you are just beginning to consider family building or you are more than a few sleepless nights in, parenthood is easier with a co-thinker. Get support with:
Conception and fertility planning and struggles
Pregnancy loss and termination
Pregnancy and postpartum concerns, such as high risk pregnancy, birth trauma and postpartum mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs)
LGBTQ, adoption, and single-by-choice family building
Parenting during the early years
Parenting over the lifespan
Parent support regarding neurodiversity, gender and sexuality, and generational cultural difference.
DeColoniality, Neurodiversity & Queer Life
Thriving as yourself
The majority of systems in which we are embedded discipline those who think and behave in ways that “deviate,” and there are a variety of ways we are impacted by disciplining practices.
We consider the internal impact of being chronically misperceived- whether from how your brain processes and regulates new information and stimulation or the interpretations of you and your community that are shaped by colonial, imperial, ableist, and cis-heteropatriarical projects.
We focus in on what is possible by re-examining positions and values that have been devalued or pushed out of view, and we readily face the challenges and victories that emerge when insisting on being yourself and of your people- in all the ways.
Meet Our Team
Meet Mamta
Licensed Clinical Psychologist; Director
Individual Therapy and Parent Consultation
Nice to meet you! I work primarily from a psychodynamic relational-cultural approach, and I integrate trauma-informed and skills-based work as indicated. My thinking is psychoanalytic in its foundation.
I believe the therapy relationship is the primary mechanism of change and that healing and growth are supported when therapy helps us tap into our strengths and resources. I hope to offer stability and attachment safety as you learn more about your inner world, explore old and new ways of expressing needs and pain points, and choose how you want to engage with yourself and others.
Most of the systems we are embedded in, as a fact of daily life in the United States, exert incredible influence on how we think and behave. In my clinical work, I think with folks about how we are disciplined by systems that attempt to consolidate power. I aim to engage in the creative world building that is typically disciplined under late stage capitalism and to support the relational, cultural, and community connections that are essential to our overall wellbeing.
I offer virtual individual therapy and parent consultation in California (#28305), Massachusetts (#10033), and Connecticut (#5309).
You can learn more about me on our about page and on my personal page.
Meet Sara (Sarr:ah or Sada)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Referral Coordinator
Individual and Couple’s Therapy & Parent Consultation
I work from a place of curiosity for what is possible and the knowledge that our success (Yusra) is often defined by our differing realities. As an Arab, Muslim immigrant educated by both Eastern and Western philosophies, I create a space for growth through affirming, culturally-aware, trauma-informed services.
I have dedicated the last 15 years to culturally-responsive, client-centered, and goal-oriented practice. My expertise centers around intersectional identity issues related to queer sexual and gender identity, religion as a meaning-making framework, accessibility and disability justice, life transitions experienced by older adults, couples and family work, socioeconomic class, race and racism, and immigration concerns. I also focus on issues related to self-empowerment, community building, and professional burnout.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker accredited by the Association of Social Work Board. I hold a Masters of Social Work with a specialization in Trauma-Informed Clinical Child and Family Intervention with additional experience in training, consulting and facilitation, group process, and diversity & inclusion in the workplace.
Learn more about Sara and her work with the Niyyah Collective and at Yusra Coaching and Development
In addition to individual and couples therapy as well as parent consultation, Sara offers referral coordination and short term work supporting treatment planning across services.
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During your first session, you will discuss how to tailor treatment to your specific goals. For example, you may want to rewrite your history, learn more about your emotions, change specific behaviors or thought patterns, learn new coping skills, or identify weekly tasks to pursue. You may prefer a more associative space where you wander through thoughts and feelings as they show themselves. Furthermore, you may want to identify larger socio-political patterns that affect your wellbeing or integrate other forms of healing into your therapy. How we pursue these goals is guided by the relationship that we develop.
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We can support the process of reimbursement by providing a superbill and guiding you through your insurance reimbursement process. Unfortunately, we are unable to work with insurance directly.
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As a practice we have frequent and direct discussions about money, care, and community investment. We orient to the fee as an investment in the community overall and hold that life circumstances not only may require sliding to a lower fee but also can invite paying a higher fee according to your means.
About a third of our practice is low fee therapy. Our full fee ranges from $250-350, and we aim to keep our average full fee at $275 or above. Your exact fee is discussed and decided in your initial consultation.
Questions?
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When you express interest in being the therapy with a clinician, you will meet with them for a 20-30 minute consultation over phone or video. This conversation is an opportunity for you to share what brings you to therapy, to get a sense of your potential therapist, and to discuss logistics including scheduling needs and the fee.
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Sometimes! We are currently a virtual practice. Historically, however, we have all predominantly provided psychotherapy in community and are open to integrating in-person work as indicated.
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We do not use AI in our work and we provide services over secured systems. When concerns exist about digital records, we discuss this with clients to follow ethical and legal requirements while thinking through privacy and security in the context of technology and surveillance.
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