Sarah has a background in psychology, with advanced degrees in educational psychology. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Human Development at a private liberal arts institution in northeast Ohio, where she has been teaching for the last 12 years.
In 2013, after completing her first sabbatical on motivational orientations and self-regulatory behaviors in ultra-endurance runners, she became interested in sport and health psychology, as well as the emerging field of health coaching. Her research on ultra-runners and her own endeavors with completing ultra-marathons led her to revisit her past experiences with weight loss and rekindled her passion for helping others achieve their own health and wellness goals.
In the summer of 2015, she became NCCA certified as a health coach through the American Council on Exercise (ACE). Since then she has earned continuing education credits in understanding and motivating midlife and older adults and effective counseling techniques. She earned a specialty certification as a Behavioral Change Specialist through ACE in July of 2017 and is currently working to become certified as a Level 1 nutrition coach through Precision Nutrition. Her personal experiences have compelled her to begin consulting as a health coach, allowing her to share an empathic passion for helping others acquire or regain control of their own physical well-being through systematic goal-setting and reflective processing.
She hopes that her unique experiences and areas of expertise can lend themselves to helping clients set and maintain realistic goals for healthy living. With her background in psychology and certifications, she can provide insights and tools to help address some of the issues that may be preventing clients from sustaining their fitness goals. She will work with clients to identify these obstacles and find suitable strategies for their success. These strategies may not always focus just on losing weight either, as she firmly believes that fitness isn't just defined by the number on the scale and every BODY is different. She understands the physical and mental struggles associated with lapsing and relapsing and fully understands that “life” can get in the way of self-care on occasion. Her goal is to enable and empower clients to implement long-term sustainable change to facilitate health and wellness. The skills clients acquire may also help them establish (or reestablish) positive changes in other aspects of their lives.
Relevant skills