Sarah Bontrager, LMFT, PhD Candidate

I love my kids. I love my husband. My best days are filled with the people I love, spending time with Jesus, teaching, cooking good food, being outside, and laughing with my friends and family. These are the most important things about me. My work, my family, and my faith let me be a helper in my community and I’m so grateful for them all.

I share this joy and passion in my work as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I am a systems-trained psychotherapist with expertise in the inner workings of family, communication, and clinical mental health. Using a variety of theories and modalities, I help my clients navigate family relationships, communication patterns, depression, anxiety, faith questions, parenting, and every-day ups and downs of being a human.

When I meet with clients, I am struck by the commonality of the human experience.  Whether it is helping young women figure out their next steps in life, single mothers, children dealing with divorce, men, and women with addiction issues, or teens with behavioral and mood disorders -- all are seeking peace. We share the same plight, fighting to heal, to hear that we matter, and to know that there is something greater we can lean on when we feel alone. I am passionate about sharing the truth of the Gospel from a chair where grace is extended in droves. From my first classes in graduate school, through my internship, and now in my private practice, I have been privy to many painful and wonderful processes. I count it a privilege to walk with individuals and families when they come to counseling for guidance. 

Over the last 20 years, I have worked with families in my private practice, women in ministry, congregations, our local schools, and now at Colorado Christian University as a professor in the psychology department.  In 2019, I added a Christian Registered Yoga Faith Certification to my resume, and I frequently employ a somatic approach to whole-body theology in a clinical setting with the many athletes I see in my practice. I am also currently finishing my PhD in performance psychology, and will graduate in the fall of 2025.

I am committed to engaging in the process of helping those who struggle with mental health issues and serving as a bridge that connects them within their community, church, and with healthy therapy. When leading groups or speaking at events, I hope to communicate that we are all worth pursuing mental and emotional health because we are made in the image of a God who loves us wholly and deeply. There are many levels of understanding mental health that require a professional, and I hope to be a conduit of that ongoing conversation