Sara Taffel, LMSW

Sara helps clients find relief from current challenges while paying close attention to the underlying patterns shaped by past experience. She approaches therapy from a psychodynamic perspective to support deeper self-understanding and lasting change.

Many of Sara’s clients come to therapy consumed by worry about the future or regret about the past. They often tie their self-worth to achievement or external validation and struggle to cultivate an identity outside of work. They may feel like they’re never doing enough and find it difficult to rest or experience pleasure without guilt.

Before becoming a therapist, Sara was a world champion fencer. Her experience in elite sport informs her work with athletes and professionals in high-performance environments. She understands sport and other high-pressure settings as spaces where fears, anxieties, and desires are intensified.

As a biracial Asian American, she brings a personal understanding of how social and cultural contexts shape who we are. Her clients often describe a lifelong sense of feeling like an outsider in their relationships and communities. She is particularly passionate about working with couples navigating differences in background and identity, helping partners move from disconnection toward greater understanding of one another.

Opening up, especially if you’re new to therapy, can feel vulnerable. Sara aims to create a warm, collaborative space where trust can develop through compassion, authenticity, and non-pathologizing curiosity.

Sara holds a Master of Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and a Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies and Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University. She sees clients virtually and in person at the 8th Avenue and Keap Street offices.