Sam Cerami, LCSW

Sam Cerami is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who works with children, adolescents, and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties, and challenging life transitions. Over more than 15 years, Sam has worked with a range of clients including families coping with suicide loss or the death of a child, people adjusting to major changes in their health, and family conflict.

She has a particular interest in working with adolescents and with parents who want to better understand their children, especially when their child’s behavior brings up their own past experiences. She is interested in the gap between knowing and doing: when someone understands a problem intellectually but still cannot seem to change it.

Humor has an important place in Sam’s work. She values the importance of the relationship between therapist and client and is interested in helping clients feel like themselves inside the room. She believes that feeling genuinely known by another person can facilitate meaningful change.

Sam’s work is informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS), particularly the idea that behaviors that cause problems now often developed for a reason. She helps clients understand what these patterns may have been doing for them and why they can be so difficult to change. Her work also draws from attachment theory and psychodynamic thinking. Additionally, she is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and uses it to help clients process traumatic or distressing experiences that continue to affect them in the present. She also incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) when practical strategies would be useful. Above all she approaches therapy with warmth, authenticity and genuine curiosity. 

Sam earned her bachelor’s degree in English from The College of New Jersey and her master’s degree in social work from Rutgers University.