Questions

(get the curiosity moving through)

“sarahbean” is my unusual moniker. It is also me. It is also the name of my therapy practice.

My birth name is Sarah Falo, but twenty years ago, I became sarahbean and it stuck – then spread, permeating my personal and professional lives. Recently, it has become my legal nomenclature in the eyes of large overseeing departments—with lots of paperwork to prove it.

The kids I work with get it, because I can use this playful name to align with them and their willingness to see possibility.  It helps that I am accustomed to having freeze-dance parties, playing ukulele and singing about feelings, or doing collaborative art projects with young children.

Calling myself sarahbean is a way to infuse wonder into our daily experiences. It is a way for me to wholeheartedly embody play.  

When we pay attention, we can see that young children are constantly asking us to be playful, to open ourselves to the wonder of the world. Babies and young toddlers babble before they start to shape words in their mouth. Why not give ourselves the opportunity to be playful with language, and adopt new perspectives of how we see ourselves?

When my parent clients meet me in that space in service of their little ones, that’s where the magic happens.

We are beans in the soup of life.

Learn more about my offerings here.

Yes! With your child as the identified client, I offer play-based telehealth therapy and parent consultation to residents in the state of Massachusetts.

I provide play-based therapy with children from Birth to age 10. It can be short-term or long-term, usually weekly, to navigate your child’s current experience, through the incredibly expressive language of play. My belief is that children know what they need to heal, when in an emotionally safe environment. Play is the language of childhood, and by infusing playful components in online interactions, I can provide information and guidance to children around their emotional world: identifying feelings and sensations, building coping strategies and awareness, all within the context of the relationship.

I also provide therapeutic consultation to parents and caregivers. This is where we can dive deep into the potential reasons for certain behaviors you—or your child—are having. My approach is to be person-centered, which means I try to see the world from your perspective. From there, we focus on your strengths and goals and identify the blocks in-between.

And perhaps you just want to connect and get some resources about specific challenges you are facing with your kiddo, like toilet learning, or how to respond when your child is having big physical expressions (tantrums, for example), you may want some short-term consultations.

Consultation services are for the adults who educate, provide care, and guide young children. These services are a proactive approach that provide support and guidance for caregivers during a challenge, problem or transition. Consultation can bring suggestions, strategies and resources to you, based on your particular concerns. It is generally more short-term in nature than therapy and focuses on the problem at hand. My therapeutic consultation services are centered on your well-being as a parent and strengths to help solve your challenge. Consultations can also be an ongoing reflective practice, where we think together about your own story and how that impacts your experience as a parent.

Therapy, short for “psychotherapy,” is a treatment process that is designed to relieve emotional distress and the effects of mental health challenges. In order to qualify for services, your child must have symptoms that align with a diagnosis in the DSM-V-TR.

There are many different theoretical approaches and schools of thought around therapy. I focus on the power of the relationship as a healing force. Through empathic, active listening and emotionally responsive reflections, client-centered therapists can help guide their clients to find meaning and practice techniques to feel more empowered in their everyday life. Therapy can be short-term or long-term, and can provide effective, long-lasting support.

I am currently enrolled with several insurances in MA through a service called helloalma.com. I accept: BCBS of MA, Point32 Health, Aetna and Optum insurances. Please call your insurance and check that I am covered and what your co-pay may be. My NPI # is 1902111354.

When you pay with insurance, the insurance company has a contracted rate of how much I will be paid out for sessions. If you are working towards a deductible, you will pay that contracted rate per session until you reach that deductible. For example, my full rate is $175 per 55 minute session. However, the contracted rate with insurance may be $126.47, and that is how much you will be responsible for.