Dr. Sarah Halawani Montes, PhD (USA)
Dr. Sarah Montes is a Counseling Psychologist with over 15 years of experience addressing various challenges. Dr. Sarah Montes’s therapeutic approach is integrative, incorporating cognitive-behavioral, person-centered and mindfulness practices. She values developing authentic, collaborative relationships with her patients, helping them tap into their own strengths while developing new coping strategies to become their best selves.
Credentials and Experience:
Dr. Sarah Montes is a Jordanian / American Doctoral-level Counseling Psychologist with more than 15 years of experience. She specializes in working with teenagers and adults facing various challenges.
Dr. Sarah Montes is a CDA licensed Counseling Psychologist trained in the USA. Dr. Sarah Montes earned her Master’s degree in Organisational and Social Psychology from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2003. She subsequently obtained her Doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from The University of Memphis, USA in 2014.
She completed her full-time one-year internship at New Mexico State University’s Counseling Center. During that internship, she worked with students who were facing various challenges.
Dr. Sarah Montes has extensive training back in the US, as well as experience with individual and group supervision. She has diverse work experiences in terms of settings. She worked at a community mental health center, at a hospital, at multiple university counseling centers across the USA, and at schools. Dr. Sarah Montes also worked with patients from diverse backgrounds and ones who presented with a variety of difficulties. She’s lived in different parts of the world (Jordan, UK, USA, and the UAE) and adopts a multicultural understanding of her patients, appreciating their diverse worldviews.
Expertise
Short and long-term counseling for Teenagers and Adults.
Group counseling.
Languages Spoken
Services offered in English and Arabic.
Therapeutic approach:
Dr. Sarah Montes uses a strengths-based and collaborative approach to meet the unique needs of each patient. She emphasizes on creating strong, genuine, collaborative, and open working relationships with her patients to help them develop, address, and maintain progress towards their personal goals in therapy. She seeks to decrease distress, increase coping strategies, and build on the patients’ strengths. She focuses on the therapy relationship while incorporating different tools and practical strategies to help her patients improve coping and function at their very best.
She draws from Cognitive-Behavioral, Family Systems, Humanistic, Mindfulness, Solution-Focused, and Interpersonal Treatment Approaches.
Areas of interest:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Perfectionism and Imposter Syndrome
- Trauma
- Grief and loss
- Interpersonal difficulties
- Eating concerns
- Identity issues
- Anger management
- Vocational and career-related concerns
- Group counseling
Educational qualifications:
- Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in Counseling Psychology from the University of Memphis (USA), 2014.
- MSc. (Master of Science) in Organisational and Social Psychology from The London School of Economics (United Kingdom), 2004.
- Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Psychology from Al-Ahliyya Amman University (Jordan), 1999.
Publications:
Montes, S. H. (2014). The relationship between parenting and depressive symptomology in young Jordanian adults: Is attachment a mediator variable? (Publication No. 3648440) [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Memphis]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.
Lease, S. H., Montes, S. H., Badgett, L. R., Sawyer, R. J., Fleming, K. M., Hampton, A. B., Ovrebo, E., Boyraz, G. (2013). A cross-cultural exploration of masculinity and relationships in men from Turkey, Norway, and the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 84-105.doi:10.1177/0022022111432293
Lease, S. H., Hampton, A. B., Fleming, K. M., Baggett, L. R., Montes, S., & Sawyer, R. J. (2010). Masculinity and interpersonal competencies: Contrasting White and African-American men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 11,195-207. doi:10.1037/a0018092
Montes, S. H., Karakashian, M., Schiro-Geist, C., Broadbent, E., & Drabowicz, J. A. (2009). The value of a study abroad program for graduate students in psychology. Psychology International, 20, 7-9. APA International Directorate Newsletter: HTTP://WWW.APA.ORG/INTERNATIONAL/PI
Presentations:
Lease, S. H., Hampton, A. B., Fleming, K. M., Baggett, L. R., Sawyer, R. J., Montes, S. H., Ovrebo, E., Ciftci, A., & Boyraz, G. (2009, August). Masculinity and intimate relationships: Comparing U.S., Norwegian, & Turkish Men. Poster presented at the American Psychological Association Conference in Toronto, Ontario.
Lease, S. H., Ovrebo, E., Hampton, A. B., Baggett, L. R., Fleming, K. M., Montes, S., Sawyer, R. J. (2009, July). Masculinity attitudes and relationships: Cultural differences and meanings. Poster presented at the European Congress of Psychology in Oslo, Norway.