Sarah Wise, MA LPC
I am an enthusiastic and motivated individual driven by a strong interest in contributing to the positive growth of children and families as they strive to improve their mental health and relationships. I believe in creating an atmosphere that empowers, supports, and builds self-awareness and effective skills. I am passionate about people’s ability to change and grow. I am a lover of lifelong learning and maintaining strong, healthy relationships with others.
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Gender and Women’s Studies from UW-Madison, before moving across the river for graduate school at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. In 2013, I began my professional career at Fraser in Minneapolis and fell in love with working with children with autism and their families. During my time at Fraser, I have worked in a variety of roles and programs, including the autism preschool day treatment program, individual and family therapy, supervision, and assessment. I quickly developed a passion for working with very young children with autism. I am certified in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) and specialize in evidence-based therapy for children with autism ages 0-4 years. I also enjoy working with children and adolescents across the span of elementary age through high school as navigating social and family relationships is ever-changing and new challenges also provide opportunities to create healthy friendship and coping skills.
I strongly believe in the ESDM caregiver coaching model which emphasizes an empathic, reciprocal relationship between the caregiver and therapist during naturalistic, developmentally-appropriate interactions. I strive to create a successful coach-parent relationship that involves these five key characteristics: being collaborative, reflective, nonjudgmental, conversational, and reciprocal. Parents need to experience the same rewards that skilled therapists experience with children in intervention: the reward of seeing the child make small changes, the pleasure of interacting with a happy child, the excitement of seeing learning happen in the moment, and the sense of competence that comes from helping children reach new goals. I will balance sharing knowledge and skills with promoting parents’ self-discovery and developing a sense of self-efficacy.