Sarah dedicated the first two decades of her career in working with animals in the marine mammal and zookeeping field.

 

Sarah has lived on both coasts from California, where she interned with the US Navy Marine Mammal Program and S.L.E.W.T.H.S/Animal Training & Resarch International Center (Taking animal training courses under the amazing and renown animal trainer, Dr. Jenifer Zeligs), to the Florida shoreline as an intern at the Miami Seaquarium. Additionally, she was a full-time zookeeper in Wichita, KS, an Educator at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, and an intern at the Milwaukee County Zoo. During her time she learned about positive reinforcement, animal care, and the amazing impact of the human-animal bond first hand. 

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Sarah even had her own Emotional Support Animal, Smiles the pitbull, whom her therapist prescribed to help provide stability during her moves. The relationship with Smiles strengthened her understanding of the positive impact and importance of pets on mental health. Through Smiles and her work as a trainer, Sarah learned the importance of seeing an animal as a "teammate" with needs, motivation, and emotions.

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Sarah left the field in 2013 to pursue her graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Friend's University in Wichita, KS. Sarah uses her unique background, with a mix of systems theory, to help train therapists on how to ethically incorporate client and pet needs in the therapy room while teaching that a pet is a vital and living and breathing colleauge in supporting clients.

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Sarah Newcomer, MS IMFT CST currently owns her own practice, SexOneFour, based in Columbus, Ohio.

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