Sara Bielek, Psy.D. received her Master of Arts and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Prior to that, she attended Wilmington College-Wilmington, Ohio, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

 

Dr. Bielek has extensive experience working with individuals of all ages in various settings that include child/adolescent residential agencies, outpatient mental health, cancer support center and inpatient adolescent deaf and hard of hearing unit. Dr. Bielek’s areas of specialization include the assessment and treatment of adolescents, adults and families that struggle with obesity, grief and loss, birth defects, chronic pain, cancer,  as well as a wide array of child-family concerns. Complete psychological assessments, testing, and provide direct treatment recommendations. Her therapeutic techniques include cognitive-behavioral, client-centered, solution-focused, humanistic techniques. Dr. Bielek has rreceived special training in programs such as relaxation, bio-feedback, and hypnosis.

 

For her doctoral dissertation she conducted research on parents losing a child to cancer. The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the lived experience of parents’ mourning around communicating with their terminally ill children. Parents were asked to report on their experience retrospectively. One area of analysis was how they engaged in a common stage of anticipatory morning, “finishing” that is, how they prepared themselves and their child for their child’s impending death.  Secondly, experiences of time, “finishing”, facing the end of one’s most intense and significant attachment can only be understood by creating space for parents’ themselves to tell their own stories; in this sense, the research is inherently therapeutic.

 

Dr. Sara Bielek is a member of the American Psychological Association.