Sara Kyles-Royster is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in the state of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Child/Family Relations and minor in Psychology. She also graduated from Point Park University in 2015 with a Master of Arts degree in Clinical-Community Psychology.

Sara is extremely passionate about eliminating racial disparities in the mental health field. She received the Young, Gifted, and Black award for her dedication to this mission within her career and community in Pittsburgh, PA. Sara aspires to be involved in ensuring that mental health laws and policies are structured to provide the best care possible especially for marginalized
populations. This is why she is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education degree in Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Behavioral Health and is set to graduate in 2024. Her dissertation research focuses on culturally competent treatment for Black men with depression.

During her career thus far, Sara has gained an abundance of experience as a mental health professional in all realms of treatment such as individual, group, and family therapy. She has worked with diverse populations at inpatient psychiatric hospitals, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs, residential facilities, a college counseling center, an adoption agency, and various outpatient community mental health organizations. Sara has also been a board member and continues to supervise Master and Doctoral-level interns pursuing careers in the mental health field.

Sara takes pride in assisting people on their journey to being their most authentic self. She describes her clinical approach as holistic with a systems foundation. She believes that everyone has patterns of functioning that continuously evolve over time and are learned from experiences within various parts of their system (family, friends, peers, school, neighborhood, religious/spiritual community, workplace environments, social media, society, etc). She believes that the family system has the biggest impact on how people make sense of the world, which ultimately shapes their identity.

In therapy with Sara, you will learn about your healthy patterns of functioning that allow you to be your most authentic self and live a meaningful life. You will also learn about any dysfunctional patterns you developed that cause periods of distress and suffering. Sara strives to provide a nonjudgmental space to openly explore your experiences without being told what to do
or how to feel. She believes that therapy can increase your self-awareness so that you can recognize your patterns and decide what is best for YOU regardless of external expectations. 

 

Although Sara’s expertise is getting to the root of presenting concerns, she incorporates interventions from relevant schools of thought to honor her clients’ unique needs and meet them
exactly where they are at. She believes in collaboration and treats people as the expert of their life. Overall, Sara acknowledges that people do their best with what they know, but she emphasizes the beauty in knowing there is always more to learn!