Therapeutic & Educational Consulting and Placement
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Sarah McGuiness, MA
Sarah McGuiness lives with her family in Colorado and has Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and English, and Master’s degrees in both Developmental Psychology and Professional Counseling. After college, she immediately started working to help families in need on the south side of Chicago before being recruited by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to be their Director of Addiction Services from 2006-2009. Since then Sarah has worked and consulted for a wide variety of addiction and mental health service providers focusing on everything from clinical services to business development and creating a network of supportive industry leaders around the country. Since April of 2016 she has focused her attention on helping families heal by finding appropriate therapeutic placements for adolescents and young adults across the country. Having visited hundreds of programs, she has a clear picture of what kind of programs work best for each individual situation. Her talents cover a broad spectrum of administrative, leadership and clinical areas, and her real gift is working with individual and families in crisis. She has learned over the past 20 years that working directly with families is where she feels the most useful. Her comprehensive approach to family wellness has proved to be a welcome and needed component for families in crisis. Services include:
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Sarah is an independent Family advocate who works to help families find the best possible service for their specific needs. She is not affiliated with or compensated by any programs or schools for her suggestions and referrals.
"No longer alone..."
Sarah McGuiness was exactly the person we needed at such a desperate moment in our parenting. Our children were self-sabotaging in different ways. We were completely overwhelmed, and had no idea what more to do. A school professional introduced us to Sarah - a huge turning point in the life of our family. We immediately felt like we were no longer alone in this struggle.
Sarah used her vast knowledge and network of the world of therapeutic interventions to help us navigate every step of the process: from transport to wilderness to residential treatment. We live overseas and having someone as caring and responsive as Sarah involved with our family - and advocating for our family when needed, has been invaluable along this journey. We feel so incredibly grateful to Sarah for her combination of professionalism and compassion throughout the process. Our family is now more connected, healthier and on a better track. Sarah's advice about programs has lead us to a place where we learned valuable communication skills in our family, and we feel hopeful for the future and well-being of our two teenagers.
- Catherine and John M.
Sarah used her vast knowledge and network of the world of therapeutic interventions to help us navigate every step of the process: from transport to wilderness to residential treatment. We live overseas and having someone as caring and responsive as Sarah involved with our family - and advocating for our family when needed, has been invaluable along this journey. We feel so incredibly grateful to Sarah for her combination of professionalism and compassion throughout the process. Our family is now more connected, healthier and on a better track. Sarah's advice about programs has lead us to a place where we learned valuable communication skills in our family, and we feel hopeful for the future and well-being of our two teenagers.
- Catherine and John M.
"Crucial Support..."
Sarah McGuiness has been a very crucial support during our struggle to find answers. Our 12 year old son was going through a really tough time with depression, school refusal, and gaming addiction. We knew we could no longer provide him with what he needed at home. We had tried counseling, creating an IEP at school and even a treatment program near us but it was not what our son needed and only made things worse. My friend told me about Sarah and how she really helped her family find an effective program when her son was going through something similar.
On our first call we learned so much and Sarah’s expertise really helped us navigate the overwhelming choices we faced. She guided us and answered all of our questions with compassion knowing this was a really difficult decision to make. Ultimately we ended up in a great wilderness program with the perfect counselor for our very bright son who had shunned all other counselors. Following wilderness we needed to find the right therapeutic boarding school. We found one we thought would be a good fit but as it turned out it didn’t offer enough support for our son. We were unfamiliar with the workings of how these programs work and took our concern to Sarah.
She saw exactly what was happening and went to bat for us. When we didn’t get the results we needed Sarah quickly got us on board with another school. We checked it out and transferred our son that weekend with great success. Now our son is at a school that is helping him move forward, learn new life skills and find happiness again. And we are very grateful for that.
And thanks to Sarah working with our IEP team at our local school she helped us get our district to cover the cost of the school which means he will get the support he needs until he is ready to come home. We are so very glad to have found Sarah. Her compassion and experience has really helped carry us through this journey.
Thanks Sarah!!!
On our first call we learned so much and Sarah’s expertise really helped us navigate the overwhelming choices we faced. She guided us and answered all of our questions with compassion knowing this was a really difficult decision to make. Ultimately we ended up in a great wilderness program with the perfect counselor for our very bright son who had shunned all other counselors. Following wilderness we needed to find the right therapeutic boarding school. We found one we thought would be a good fit but as it turned out it didn’t offer enough support for our son. We were unfamiliar with the workings of how these programs work and took our concern to Sarah.
She saw exactly what was happening and went to bat for us. When we didn’t get the results we needed Sarah quickly got us on board with another school. We checked it out and transferred our son that weekend with great success. Now our son is at a school that is helping him move forward, learn new life skills and find happiness again. And we are very grateful for that.
And thanks to Sarah working with our IEP team at our local school she helped us get our district to cover the cost of the school which means he will get the support he needs until he is ready to come home. We are so very glad to have found Sarah. Her compassion and experience has really helped carry us through this journey.
Thanks Sarah!!!
Thank you...
My ex-husband and I worked with Mark and Sarah in the summer of 2017, in support of our daughter, who was just fourteen. Her year-long struggles with depression and anxiety had become frightening, and we knew that something significant needed to change -- and urgently. However, I was paralyzed by the magnitude of figuring out what to do for her. We needed to make a really critical decision, which would directly affect her future, and we needed to make it in a matter of days, and on a topic about which neither of us had any knowledge (and therefore no confidence in our opinions). Mark and Sarah's help was invaluable. They listened, they empathized and understood, and they provided a short list of recommendations and explained the rationale for each. Based on that help, I took our daughter to a shorter-term facility sight unseen, which started her on a better path; a month later, also on short notice, we took her to a longer-term facility where she has received expert and caring treatment and has responded extraordinarily. Without Mark and Sarah, I don't know how we would have made a decision about her placement -- and I'm certain that our choice would not have been anywhere near as effective as these placements have been. It scares me to consider what path we might be on today, without having had their help.
- Meg
- Meg
Above and Beyond
"Sarah, It’s important to me that you know how incredibly grateful we are that you are sharing this process with us and that you are our invaluable and constant source of support and advocacy. We are so fortunate to have you as our Educational Consultant, cheerleader, listener, advice-giver, behind-the-scenes fixer, therapeutic supporter, representative for us to the program and the many other roles you’ve taken on for us. I can let out a breath knowing you’re in our corner. You’re just wonderful, and you go above and beyond your position as our EC. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Family AssessmentWe get a comprehensive look at the entire family system in order to help make consequential decisions moving forward.
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Program PlacementFinding just the right program is difficult. Our personal experience with programs and their teams gives us the best chance to help you make the best decision for your family
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Ongoing SupportNavigating significant change can be overwhelming for a family. Having a professional who know you and the system well can help with the anxiety and fear that comes with real family growth.
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