As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (licensed in Montana and Utah), MSW Professor, Trauma-Informed Somatic Yoga Instructor, Trained Daring Way™ Facilitator, and Wellness Coach, Sara Hughes-Zabawa brings over a decade of therapeutic experience and a unique blend of expertise to her work. Her approach is rooted in a holistic, person-in-environment social work perspective, recognizing how a client’s family, faith, identity, and broader context shape their well-being.

Sara specializes in guiding clients through major life transitions that can feel profoundly unsettling: navigating faith crises, religious trauma, traumatic loss, or life-altering medical diagnoses. These experiences often impact both mind and body, leaving individuals feeling unmoored and struggling with grief, shame, and a loss of identity.

With a trauma-focused lens, Sara integrates somatic therapy into her sessions. This body-centered approach gently guides clients to notice and process sensations, helping to release stored stress and emotions, regulate their nervous system, and cultivate a deeper sense of internal safety. Drawing on her advanced education and lived experience as a survivor of religious and medical trauma along with chronic pain and illness, Sara offers a safe, affirming space to explore suppressed doubts and fears without judgment.

Whether clients are untangling the complexities of religious trauma, seeking LGBTQIA+ affirming support, or adjusting to a new physical reality, Sara collaborates with them to build a personalized toolkit. As a trained Daring Way™ Facilitator, she also empowers clients to identify core values beyond external expectations, fostering courage and authentic, grounded resilience. Her passion is to help clients move from survival mode to a wholehearted, thriving life.

Sara received a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Michigan. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a minor in Women’s Studies from Brigham Young University. Sara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Montana and Utah.

_{License #: MT BBH-LCSW-LIC-27893 & UT: 14210705-3501}