About Me

For over 15 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with older adults in creative and life storytelling, poetry, improvisation, and creative writing in a variety of settings. I am a licensed clinical social worker and hold a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing. As a teaching artist with EngAGE, a non-profit that provides arts programming in senior housing, I lead storytelling and creative writing classes. I’m also a trainer with Lifetime Arts, co-leading arts education trainings for individual teaching artists and organizations hoping to expand arts programming for older adults.

Time and again, I’ve seen the way creative engagement enhances a sense of purpose and meaning for older adults, validates the creative contributions of each participant, and cultivates social connections.

I‘m a Certified Facilitator and Trainer of TimeSlips Creative Storytelling and facilitator of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project model, with extensive experience working with people with memory loss.

Creative engagement ensures that people with memory loss are more than a diagnosis, nurturing capacities that remain, rather than reinforcing what is lost.

This work has yielded many moments of surprise and delight. I’ve seen a daughter’s look of astonishment at hearing lines of an improvisational story attributed to her dementia-affected mother. I’ve witnessed the pride of elder writers holding a copy of an anthology of their work, a storytelling group of people with memory loss dissolve in laughter after a communal off-key rendition of “Anchors Aweigh,” and the cast of a play jokingly refer to each other by the names of their characters long after the curtain came down.

These moments, and the relationships cultivated by this deeply affirming work, keep me committed to creative engagement as a channel for meaningful self-expression, community building—and fun!

Testimonials

“As a master teaching artist for EngAGE, Sarah has brought improvisational storytelling and creative writing programs to our residents and has a devoted following of artful elders due to her passion, talents, and approach. Sarah is someone who truly recognizes the power of the arts to create a sense of purpose and belonging amongst elders, who are most prone to isolation and loneliness. She believes in her students’ ability to be active participants and creates a sense of confidence and pride in the power of their stories. I have not met a more talented teaching artist in 20-plus years at EngAGE.”

— Tim Carpenter

CEO/Founder, EngAGE

“Sarah is an exceptional facilitator who has a lot of expertise in working with individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia. She is great at communicating and creating a safe space for the participants to engage and share without feeling judged. TimeSlips is so beneficial to those living with dementia since it uses a person-centered approach and focuses on what the individual is still able to do, which leads to a higher quality of life. Alzheimer’s Los Angeles is so grateful to Sarah for fostering creative engagement and socialization between participants during TimeSlips Creative Storytelling.”

— Anne Oh

Manager, Support Groups & Activity Programs
Alzheimer's Los Angeles

“Sarah has helped tremendously with incorporating creative engagement in the Meals on Wheels West Phone Reassurance program. She introduced the concept of “beautiful questions” to staff and then held multiple workshops for Meals on Wheels West volunteers on utilizing beautiful questions & creative engagement. The workshops for both staff and volunteers helped implement the use of beautiful questions on volunteers’ weekly phone calls to MOWW clients. Incorporating creative engagement strategies in our program has helped build strong community connections between MOWW volunteers and clients, which has a lasting impact on reducing the isolation common among older adults.”