“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.

My 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.

Money is a big deal and I appreciate that you are considering working together. I offer out-of-network benefits for people with a PPO insurance policy. This means, you would pay my full fee, and then submit an invoice (“superbill”) to your insurance for reimbursement. For more information and my private pay rates, click here.

I am in the process of creating a separate Parent Coaching Program called The Super Delight Parenting Project which will be available to people worldwide. More information coming soon! Check back. ♡

Starting on January 1, 2025, I do not accept insurance. I can provide an invoice specific for your insurance, also known as a “superbill” for you to apply to get partial reimbursement for sessions. I also accept HSA and FSA accounts. Please note: in order to submit a superbill, you need to be eligible for a DSM diagnosis. If you’d rather not have yourself or your child with a diagnosis on file, you can choose pay my private rate. You can learn more about this process here.

This is genuinely up to you. Depending on what kind of support you are looking for, it can be ongoing, long-term consistent support through weekly 30, 45- or 55-minute sessions. If you have a parenting/caregiving issue that is affecting you acutely, perhaps a couple sessions is all you’ll want or need. That’s fine too. If you want consistent sessions but less frequency, that’s also available. All of these decisions are yours and subject to availability. I will help you weigh out the pros/cons of each potential choice. 

Generally, through play-based therapy with children and families, a significant shift can be observed within 6-10 months, or 24-36 sessions.

Besides the time it will take within our sessions (usually 45-50 minutes), I may prompt you to think about things, practice different skills, or work on a project to help you get a new perspective in-between sessions. The amount of time you spend on these things is up to you. The more time you spend on your intentions and goals, the sooner they can become reality.

My gigantic goal is to empower parents to access your inner rockstar so that you can grow as a parent and trust your radiance. I am a visitor in your life. The structure of our work together is based on our discovery call and our initial intake session, where you’ll have the opportunity to share with me what is going on for you and your little one, and how I can best support you. See more about my process here.

Some clients love the ongoing nature and consistency of weekly sessions; others are looking for short-term support about a developmental issue (like a child who is biting or toilet learning or having enormous tantrums). This could be 4-6 sessions, or more, depending on what we discover and what works for you. Generally, Consultations can be shorter term, and Therapy is generally longer-term (20+ sessions, 6+ months).

This service is truly up to you in terms of longevity and frequency.

As your service provider, I am dedicated to your empowerment as the designer of your destiny, so you get to decide what works. 

For every child client with whom I work, it is paramount that we check in as adults at least 1x/month. Your ongoing collaboration with your child’s treatment is the number 1 game-changer in child therapy. These monthly check-ins include: How is this going for you? Are we focusing on the things that support your primary goal? What can we do to optimize this process for you and your child?

You can start by contacting me, and we can set up a free discovery call. I use an online portal called SimplePractice. Once we set up a discovery call, you will book it through the portal and receive a video link for the session.

Before your call, it is helpful to think about what you are hoping to get from the call and our work together. If you have thoughts and questions, I welcome them. The call is 20 minutes, and will provide information about our potential work together. If we decide to work together, we can set up our next appointment, which will be our initial intake appointment. I will send you some paperwork to fill out and we will review it together during our next session. See more about the process here.

Experiences with me could potentially include:

• a series of weekly play-based virtual therapy sessions with your child, as well as monthly consultation calls without your child.

• A consultation session where we review a video of your child’s tantrum that you share with me, and we can discuss and dissect the situation and what led up to that moment and identify strategies to support you and your child in that process.

• A solo 30-, 45- or 60-minute virtual play-based therapy session with your child

• A meeting with you and your co-parent about navigating your different boundaries with the kids. 

• A video tour of your space to identify ways to rearrange or add more child-specific elements that align with your child’s therapeutic needs.

I am building my network of referrals and I would be happy to refer you to a colleague with a different approach or energy who is doing similar work. The goal is to find a sense of ease for you in your current experience. Finding a therapist or coach or consultant can be like dating: there needs to be a foundation of understanding in order for us to work together. I know I am not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s totally bueno. That’s why I offer a discovery call: to get a sense of one another and see if this might be a good fit. 

Please reach out to me on my contact form or email me at hello@sarahbean.co