Betsy Sansby has 30 years of experience counseling individuals, couples, and families. 

If you're at a crossroads in your life, make sure the therapist you choose knows the territory and is competent to help you find your way.  I work best with people who know that lasting change is an inside job, a daily practice that requires honesty, commitment, discipline and restraint. It's about working to change those habits of thinking, doing, and feeling that are keeping you from being your brightest self. 

My goal is to help you see yourself more clearly, so you can heal your pain, develop your strengths, share your gifts, and pass on fewer bad habits to your spouse, kids, family, friends, and the world. I'm also involved in the treatment and prevention of depression and anxiety disorders.  In particular, I use mindfulness-based practices to help clients retrain their brains to be calmer, more positive, and less reactive to stressful people, circumstances, and events in their lives.

In our work together, we'll talk about what you really want and figure out what's keeping you from getting it.  Then we'll come up with a plan to help you achieve your goals as quickly as possible. 

Betsy has appeared in Redbook Magazine, and is a regularly featured therapist in the popular Ladies' Home Journal series "Can This Marriage Be Saved?"  She is the creator of The OuchKit, LoveBites, and other communication tools for couples.  She is also the author of Ask Betsy, an online relationship advice column.  
Betsy works with adults as well as adolescents.  She especially likes working with family members two at a time: a mother and daughter, father and son, brother and sister, two cousins, even best friends.She is also an expert in the treatment of depression and anxiety.  In 2011, she completed the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Training (MBCT) for Professionals, and is qualified to deliver the MBCT Program, an 8-week program that reduces the relapse rate of depression for people who have had three or more episodes. 

"Our memories of this time would have been very different without your help.  I can't express how much I appreciate your caring and sincerity.  You made a huge difference in our family life!  " Client

You can expect me to:

• Ask direct questions
  
• Notice what others miss
• Tell you what I really think
  
• Respect your sovereignty
• Help you turn insight into action 

Don't expect me to:

• Sit and nod
• Agree with you all the time
• Avoid difficult topics
  
• Work harder than you do
• Perform miracles very often

Between sessions, you'll be practicing whatever skills you've been working on, so you're always making progress--even when I'm not around. Each time we meet, we'll figure out what's working, what's not, and what's next. My job is to make each session challenging and relevant, and give you tools to help you be your best self--inside and outside the therapy setting.

Office hours and setting:  I work out of a lovely home-office, perched on a hill, and surrounded by trees. I work: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, from 9 a.m. to noon. I answer my own phones. I do not work evenings.  I also do phone sessions.

Email or phone counseling sessions:  These sessions are for anyone who prefers to do therapy by phone or email.  You pay for my time, and if you live in the US or Canada, I pay the long distance charge.  Same day, weekend, evening appointments available.  

Fees:  Therapists typically charge for a "therapeutic hour," which lasts 45-50 minutes. My fees are based on either a 60-minute or a 90-minute session.  A 60-minute session is $140.  A 90-minute session is $200.  All couples or family sessions are 90 minutes.  I do not take insurance.  Payment is due at the time of service.   Payments may be made by cash, check or Visa or MasterCard.

One World Community Choir:  I also lead the One World Community Choir & Social Club every Monday night from 7 PM to 8:40 PM in Hopkins, MN.  It's a wonderful no-audition choir, non-performing choir where people gather to sing beautiful multi-part songs together from around the world.  Although the choir is open to the community for a fee, my therapy clients are always invited to attend for free.     

Specialized Training:
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Training for Professionals with Zindel Segal.  She is qualified to deliver the 8-week MBCT Program for the Prevention  of Relapse of Depression.  This program has been proven to significantly reduce relapse rates in clients who have experienced three or more episodes of depression.

The Enlightened Brain Course--Practical Tools to Reshape Your Brain, with Rick Hanson, Ph.d.
 
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) 

Education:
MS in Counseling (Marriage & Family) 1983, California State University, Sacramento

Minnesota Board-Approved Supervisor of Marriage & Family Therapists  1987

B.S. University of California at Davis 1979,

Scripps College, Claremont, CA, 1974.

Clinical Memberships: American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy, Midwest Association of Marriage & Family Therapy

Clients' feedback:

"I appreciate how you capture the essence of an issue, instead of getting lost in symptoms."

"Thank you for your intense curiosity, intelligence, humor, and compassion."

"I'm gaining confidence by using your Mindfulness tools.  Thanks for helping me avert another disaster."                       

 "You didn't turn away, judge, or silence me when things got uncomfortable or difficult."

"Thanks for not giving up on us. We were both ready to call it quits."

"Betsy pulled the truth from an ocean of craziness." 

"Being with Betsy is like getting a great mental flossing. I always leave sessions with more to think about." 

"You did amazing things for us. We've had a great couple of months realizing how much we love each other. Couples like us could put you out of business!"

"You aren't just helping us, you're helping us give our daughters the gift of a peaceful, happy home they can feel loved in."

"We worked hard, but you gave us the tools. Without them, we could have worked just as hard and gotten nowhere--except maybe divorced."

"Thank you for all you have done. I believe your work is truly PRICELESS! I hope you know how much it is appreciated."