Move from distance to deeper connection.
Relationship Counseling for Couples+ and individuals
Specializing in Neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ Relationships
Sable Arend, MS, LPC
Online in Pittsburgh and across PA
Neurodivergent-Affirming
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Couples+ Therapy
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LGBTQ-Affirming
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Relationship Counseling
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Trauma-Informed
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Individual Therapy
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Neurodivergent-Affirming ✦ Couples+ Therapy ✦ LGBTQ-Affirming ✦ Relationship Counseling ✦ Trauma-Informed ✦ Individual Therapy ✦
Feeling stuck in painful patterns? Longing for closeness and a deeper sense of connection?
In my practice, I work with couples+ and individuals who want to feel more securely connected—to their loved one or themselves—but need some assistance to get there. Maybe you’re longing for more from your relationships—to feel closer, fight less, or to experience connection that feels safe and steady. Or maybe you’re wanting more from your life—needing to untangle past traumas, navigating neurodivergence, or exploring LGBTQ+ identity and how it shapes your relationships.
Using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), I provide an attachment-based framework to help you make sense of your patterns, needs, and emotions.
I’ll teach you to listen deeply to the emotions and innate needs underlying relationship patterns and challenging conflict cycles, using this information to heal pain points, reduce conflict, and foster increased safety in your relationships.
Together, we’ll explore your innermost world and create real, tangible change by building new patterns of connection rooted in safety, loving responsiveness, and emotional attunement—co-creating a space where vulnerability feels safer and deeper healing can take root.
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I specialize in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), an evidence-based approach that helps couples and individuals understand the deeper emotional patterns driving conflict and disconnection. I have particular expertise working with:
LGBTQ+ community members
Neurodivergence and cross neuro-type relationships
Disability and chronic illness
Non-traditional relationships (CNM and open relationships, polyamory, queer platonic relationships)
Kink-aligned communities
In my work with individual clients, I also incorporate Brainspotting, a powerful brain-body approach that helps process trauma and deeply held emotional pain that may be difficult to access through talk therapy alone.
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Warm, collaborative, curious, and body-aware, my approach is rooted in trauma-informed care and attachment theory. My clinical framework draws from EFT, experiential therapy, feminist theory, and person-centered therapy, alongside Buddhist principles of compassion, mindfulness, acceptance, and non-judgment.
I strive to create an affirming, supportive space where healing and growth occur through felt, embodied experience in addition to understanding one's thoughts, behaviors, and patterns — exploring and organizing inner life and experience while deepening connection to others and to oneself.
I am deeply affirming of all relationship structures — including CNM, polyamory, and queer platonic relationships — and work from a sex-positive, kink-affirming, sex-work affirming, and body-positive lens.
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I enjoy helping individuals and couples+ feel more connected to others, become more attuned and responsive partners, and heal past wounds and trauma. I help people understand their emotions and vulnerabilities, providing a space to take safer emotional risks that repair relationships and support deeper connection.
I have experience working with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, complex trauma, PTSD, burnout, ADHD, autism, OCD, executive functioning challenges, LGBTQ+ issues, gender and sexual identity, disability, chronic health conditions, and chronic pain.
In my couples and relationship work, I have particular experience with LGBTQ+ relationships, cross-neurotype partnerships, and relationships of all structures — including throuples, consensual non-monogamy (CNM), polyamory, open relationships, and kink-aligned partnerships.
While these reflect areas of particular experience, I welcome all individuals and relationships who feel aligned with my practice.
Meet the Therapist
Hi! I’m Sable,
A licensed professional counselor (LPC) and therapist trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT).
Deep, transformative healing happens in supportive, safe, affirming relationships. As a therapist, I strive to create a space where everyone feels seen, understood, and empowered to become better humans, lovers, and friends.
I believe that personal growth must welcome and incorporate all facets of ourselves, even the parts with which we have a complicated relationship, and that self-compassion and curiosity are some of the most powerful tools of self-discovery.
I welcome you to show up authentically, offering an environment that is supportive, nonjudgemental, and safe.
Counseling Services
Couples+ Therapy
Whether you are a couple or part of a poly+ constellation, I help you move past the "same old fight" and build a secure, responsive bond using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT).
Extended Couples+ Therapy
Deep work takes time. I offer 75-minute couples sessions for partners who want more space to explore complex patterns and facilitate lasting emotional shifts without feeling rushed.
Individual Therapy
A safe, neuro-affirming space for LGBTQ+ individuals. Whether you are navigating trauma, exploring your identity, or seeking tools for a neurospicy brain, we’ll work collaboratively to help you thrive.
Whether you’re ready to begin or just curious to know more, reach out to introduce yourself! We can find a time to connect, answer any questions, and see if it feels like a good fit.
Start the Conversation
Email: sable@arendcounseling.com
Call or Text: 412-223-7502
Looking for more EFT insights?
Serving Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Philadelphia, and cities across Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, East Liberty, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Highland Park, Point Breeze, Allison Park, Moon Townshop, Bethel Park, Bridgeville, West Mifflin, Glenshaw, Oakdale, Braddock, Coraopolis,South Park, East Pittsburgh, Lawrenceville, Duquesne, Turtle Creek, Sewickley, Verona, Hendersonville, Clairton, Oakmont


EFT is a research-based, attachment-informed model that helps people build more secure, resilient, and emotionally connected relationships—with others and with themselves.
Whether practiced as EFIT (Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy), EFCT (Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy), or EFFT (Emotionally Focused Family Therapy), EFT centers on understanding emotional patterns, providing a robust framework for understanding love, softening protective strategies, and creating safer, more secure bonds with others and the self.