Second Breath Therapy
N. Sarah Holmes, LCSW #28820
(she/her)
Online Therapy for Organ Transplant Recipients , Pre-Transplant Recipients, Living Donors, Caretakers and Family Members in California
Second Breath Therapy
About Therapy
Online therapy for pre and post transplant recipients in California means you can access this support from wherever you are, whether that is your couch, your car or office, or a quiet corner of your home on a day when getting anywhere feels like too much.
Our work together is body-centered, meaning we pay attention not just to what you are thinking but to what you are feeling in your physical body. For people who have spent years relating to their body as something broken, unreliable, or foreign, this can be a genuinely new experience. We will move slowly and I will follow your lead.
In our sessions, you might find yourself:
- Finally saying the things you have been holding back because you did not want to burden anyone or seem ungrateful
- Exploring parts of your identity and your life that got set aside when illness took over
- Learning to relate to your body with something closer to curiosity than fear or resentment
- Processing the complicated feelings that come with receiving a life-saving gift, including grief, guilt, and gratitude all at once
- Reconnecting with what matters to you beyond survival
*Check out the FAQ page here for more answers about therapy with me.
The goal is not to fix you. You are not broken. The goal is to help you find all of you again. Take the first step. Click here and request to be scheduled for a free 15 minute consultation.
About Me
I have been where you are. I know what it is like to wake up and run that head to toe check before your feet even hit the floor. I know the weight of carrying a gift that came at someone else's expense. I know what it feels like to sit in a room full of people who love you and still feel completely alone in your experience, because no one else in that room has lived inside a body like yours.
I am Sarah Holmes, a therapist and organ transplant recipient. I offer online therapy in California for people who are navigating life before or after a transplant and are ready to be seen as more than a patient.
For over fifteen years I have worked with people navigating anxiety, addiction, depression, grief and loss, and major life transitions. When I went through my own transplant experience, something shifted in how I understood my work. I realized there was a group of people falling through the cracks, not because their medical team was not excellent, but because excellent medical care and being truly seen as a whole human being are two very different things. I wanted to create a space where both could exist.
My practice, Second Breath Therapy, is built on that belief. You deserve more than a medical record. You deserve a place where the fullness of who you are gets to show up, not just the part that is sick or recovering or waiting.
Clients often describe working with me feels like they can finally exhale. Like they have been holding their breath for so long, managing everyone else's emotions while quietly white-knuckling their own, and this is the first place they have been able to just put it down for a while. Many clients find that over time they begin to reconnect with parts of themselves they had quietly shelved because being sick or recovering had to take priority. Interests. Relationships. A sense of identity that has nothing to do with their medical history.
I am warm, direct, and I do not believe therapy has to be heavy all the time. The space we create together will have room for laughter as much as tears, for the profound and the mundane, for the questions that keep you up at night and the small victories that deserve to be celebrated. We will work at a pace that is comfortable to you. You are the driver in your life, I will just be your co-pilot navigating the way. Let's schedule a 15 minute consultation and see if this feels right for you. Click here and start your journey.
