Sarah R. Probst, M.A., LPC-S, is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, trauma therapist, and author of Esther’s Decrees. Her life’s work bridges two worlds that rarely speak to each other: the unchanging promises of Scripture and the modern neuroscience of healing.
Her Story
Sarah grew up in the New Orleans area and was displaced to Portland, Oregon in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. In the years that followed, she lived in China, studied trauma-informed aftercare for children rescued from sex trafficking in Cambodia, attended seminary in Portland, and went on to earn her Master’s in Counseling.
In 2015 she established Pneuma Counseling, where she continues to practice both Biblical and neuroscientific approaches to mental healing — one of the only mental health centers practicing advanced neuroscientific approaches grounded not only in Biblical truth, but in an understanding of God’s own design of the body and brain to heal. In her spare time, Sarah studies theology and writes studies that marry clinical and Biblical observation.
Education
- Master of Arts in Counseling — Multnomah University
- Master’s Diploma in Ministry & Leadership (35+ Master’s hours) — Western Seminary
- Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication — Southeastern Louisiana University
Trained by the Pioneers of Trauma Therapy
Sarah holds more than 1,000 post-graduate training hours in trauma recovery and over 6,000 clinical hours of practice — including 200+ hours in neurofeedback training alone — learning from the internationally renowned researchers who shaped the modern understanding of trauma and the brain:
- Bessel van der Kolk
- Peter Levine
- Gabor Maté
- Richard Schwartz
- Janina Fisher
- Pat Ogden
- Portland State University — Certificate in Foster & Adoptive Therapies
- EEG Institute — Levels I, II & III Othmer Method Neurofeedback Therapy
- NeurOptimal® Institute — Level I
- Lifespan Integration — Levels I & II Certificates
- EMDR — PESI Institute
- The Genesis Process — Certification for Addiction Recovery
Sarah uses trauma-informed, state-of-the-art therapies to address PTSD, depression, anxiety, attachment disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, sleep disorders, migraines, and OCD.
- Founder of Pneuma Counseling & Neurofeedback in Mandeville, Louisiana — faith-based counseling with EMDR, neurofeedback, Lifespan Integration, and Brainspotting
- Founder of BrainParlor Neurofeedback Spa
- Creator of Trauma-Informed Christians — equipping ministry leaders to see trauma through a Biblical lens
Why Esther?
Sarah sits daily with survivors of profound trauma — and she writes as a woman who has known spiritual captivity and abuse firsthand. In 2016, during a three-day retreat in a prayer cabin above the Pacific, the book of Esther opened to her in a way she had never seen: not a fairy tale, but a kingdom parable of restoration — the journey from orphan to exile to royal that belongs to every follower of Jesus.
Esther’s Decrees is the fruit of nearly a decade of study, prayer, clinical practice, and personal application of that revelation.