Sheryl FitzGerald, Ph.D.

I developed Prevail Therapy to focus on women’s mental health, fertility counseling and wellness. I help my clients tap into their own strength, grow from personal insight, alleviate distress, and prevail despite difficult obstacles. My therapy is rooted in compassion and built on a lifelong commitment to helping others find hope and a path to live a more fulfilling life.

At Washington University in St. Louis and Duke University Medical Center, I specialized in health psychology, the practice of how biological, social and psychological factors impact health and illness. My doctoral research, teaching and publications focused on factors influencing health behavior change in medical populations. I learned to use empirically validated treatment approaches to help clients cope with and manage the stress, anxiety, pain and depression that often accompany chronic health conditions. 

Clients came to see me for counseling when they were looking to increase their self-esteem, improve their mood, reduce self-defeating behaviors, cope with loss or seeking change in their relationships or career. Postdoctoral training at California Pacific Medical Center and University of California, Berkeley deepened my expertise counseling individuals, couples and families coping with anxiety, depression, or chronic illness, and cemented my interest in specializing in women’s mental health and wellness. 

In addition to my work in the mental health field, I also spent more than a decade as an organizational and leadership development consultant inspiring and managing individual and organizational behavior change at Fortune 500 companies as well as start ups. The settings differed, but the challenges and outcomes were familiar: leveraging people’s strengths, guiding effective relationships, managing conflict, and achieving work-life balance.

Beyond the education and experience working in hospitals, businesses, schools and counseling centers, I gained a profound appreciation time and again for the grit, resilience, courage and grace people possess when faced with adversity. When we were going through our own infertility crisis, I decided that I wanted to be the therapist who could hold hope, courage, and wisdom for others when they needed it the most…I can be that therapist for you. 

Treatment Approach

Therapy built on a collaborative and trusting therapeutic relationship offers you the opportunity to access your emotions, understand what is important to you and identify unhelpful patterns or beliefs that may be blocking you from moving forward. In therapy, you can safely explore your thoughts and share your feelings without fear of being judged. Together, we can examine tightly held feelings such as fear, grief or disappointment about your life not going the way you imagined. This process builds on your strengths, helps you tolerate and ultimately reduce distress and sets the stage for positive change and connection to yourself and others. Finding compassion, healing and new insight allows you to let go of what doesn’t serve you and create a life that you love.

As an integrative therapist, I tailor my therapy to meet you where you are at each session. I incorporate cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy and mindfulness into my treatment while staying focused on the goals that you bring to therapy. I provide education, emotional support and guidance to help you gain clarity, problem solve, make decisions that are right for you, and optimize your emotional and physical well-being. 

Whether you’re struggling with feelings of anxiety, depression or irritability, having difficulty in your relationships, coping with a chronic illness, or hitting one obstacle after another while trying to build or nurture your family, I am interested in understanding your experience and helping you develop effective strategies to cope and build resilience. I value working with people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and cultures. Contact me today and let me help you move from a place of discomfort to one where you gain strength, make lasting changes and prevail.

Experience

EDUCATION

Washington University, St. Louis
Ph.D. Clinical Health Psychology

Duke University Medical School
Medical Psychology Internship

University of Virginia
B.A., Psychology

License: PSY 28705

TRAINING HIGHLIGHTS

Post-graduate Course and Mental Health Professional Training in Fertility Counseling and Treatment Interventions, American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Post-doctoral Counselor and Research Assistant: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychology, Berkeley, California

Post-doctoral Fellowship: California Pacific Medical Center, Health Psychology Program, Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco, California

Research Assistantship: Stanford School of Medicine, Health Improvement Program, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Palo Alto, California

Clinical Medical Psychology Internship: Duke University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Durham, North Carolina

Pre-doctoral Internship: Psychological Service Center, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri

Pre-doctoral Internship: Center for Health Behavior Research and Behavioral Medicine Center, Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, St. Louis, Missouri

AFFILIATIONS

Mental Health Professional Group, American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Psychological Association
Alameda County Psychological Association
California Psychological Association