Investor Spotlight: Sara Schieffelin, LICSW

From working locally with ServiceNet and teaching graduate students at Smith College to designing trainings for international audiences, GNCC investor Sara Schieffelin has a rich perspective on how strong communications skills can strengthen team dynamics and lead to better results. We caught up with her to talk about her work.

How many years have you been in business? I have been a social worker for nearly 20 years, working in a wide range of clinical, leadership, and teaching roles in nonprofits, community mental health organizations, international NGOs, and schools. I opened my private therapy practice in 2016, beginning part-time and expanding during the pandemic.

Over the past decade, I’ve also built a practice as a trainer, facilitator, coach, and consultant. Drawing on my experience in the helping profession, and with expertise in a communication method called Motivational Interviewing, I partner with teams and organizations to strengthen communication, improve outcomes, and create healthier workplace cultures.

Sara Schieffelin

Tell us a bit about what you do, or what a typical day in your business might look like.  I wear a few different hats, and each day looks different. I maintain a small private therapy practice where I work with individual clients, and I serve as a Practicum Faculty Advisor and Adjunct Associate Professor at Smith College School for Social Work, teaching and mentoring graduate students during their internship experience.

My true passion, however, is as a trainer, facilitator, and coach. My work ranges from one-hour presentations to multi-month and multi-year training contracts. I design and lead full-day staff retreats, facilitate team-based learning experiences, leadership development and provide individual coaching and consulting. Across all settings, my training focuses on strengthening communication, deepening listening skills, and enhancing team dynamics.

In every role I hold, my purpose is the same: to help people gain skills, pursue growth, and build healthier, more connected relationships and communities.

What made you decide to start (or join) your business? During my time at ServiceNet working in a community-based program, I began facilitating staff trainings and discovered an unexpected passion (perhaps inherited from my mother, a lifelong teacher). I was energized by helping people develop their skills, strengthen their confidence, and work more collaboratively — all in service of improving care for clients.

After leaving ServiceNet–and realizing I could bring together my clinical experience, group facilitation skills, teaching abilities, and expertise in Motivational Interviewing–I began offering workshops to other organizations and teams.

I now have the incredible privilege of doing work that I genuinely love, allowing me to bring meaningful, tangible skills that strengthen communication and relationships.

What is a recent project you're proud of? I’m proud every time a participant from one of my courses shares that their communication skills have grown, their relationships have improved, or that they feel more confident in their work.

Two recent experiences stand out. One was working with three international trainers over six months to design and deliver a three-day Training of New Trainers (TNT) for 40 participants from around the world at the annual Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) forum. The process was full of creativity, energy, and joy, and reminded me how powerful collaboration can be — what we created together was far greater than what any of us could have done individually.

I’ve been fortunate to build multi-year relationships with organizations that continue to invite me back, including Smith College, Massachusetts MENTOR, the Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service (CRESS) Department in Amherst, the Western MA VA, Live Tampa Bay, and the Community Safety Department (CSD) in Cambridge.

Several years ago, I trained the CSD team in Motivational Interviewing. At that time, the current director had not yet joined the department. Recently, after stepping into her role — and having worked with many teams trained in Motivational Interviewing — she reached out to me to share that this was the best-trained team she had ever worked with. She told me she knew she needed to have whoever had trained them come back, and that she had tracked me down through departmental records. And now I will be returning to train their new staff.

Experiences like this — being invited back because the work has had a lasting impact — are among the most meaningful aspects of what I do.

Any exciting plans for the future? As a native of Northampton, and a new member of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, I’m thrilled to connect with local businesses and nonprofits to explore how what I offer can boost their work. In the coming months, I’ll be offering free introductory workshops, a 6-week Conversations that Connect course, and — thanks to the Commonwealth Corporation Workforce Training Fund Program — I’m now approved to provide half-day, full-day, two-day, and multi-day workshops focused on practical communication for teams, leadership development, Motivational Interviewing, or custom-designed trainings at no cost to eligible Massachusetts organizations. And I am always interested in collaborating with organizations to tailor individualized workshops and trainings.

If any of these opportunities sound interesting, I’d love to hear from you! Visit saraschieffelin.com or email me at sara@saraschieffelin.com.

What else should we know about you or your business? Are there any fun facts about your business, or something that would surprise people about what you do? My workshops aren’t just about talking—they are experiential and about building new skills in unique ways. I use a wide range of hands-on teaching tools, based in principles of adult education and universal design for learning to engage different learning styles and preferences: aside from having conversations, we might listen to and analyze a song, explore values and long-term goals through building with Legos, practice reflective listening through improv-based exercises, or get our hands busy with pipe cleaners and fidgets. Over the years, I’ve collected a slideshow of some of the best pipe cleaner creations!

As participants engage in these experiential activities, relationships naturally develop and strengthen—not just within the group, but also in the “real world” as participants bring new skills and connection strategies back to their teams, workplaces, and communities. The result is joyful, growth-oriented learning that stretches participants and leaves them more confident, connected, and capable of meaningful communication.

I’ve had the privilege of training a wide variety of groups, from HR staff at a multi-billion-dollar company, social service workers, business leaders, and educators, to municipal employees, medical and behavioral health professionals, peers, and even a group of 7th and 8th graders at my son’s school (that was the most challenging professional experience I’ve had to date–hats off to all the middle school teachers out there!). The diversity of participants keeps the work fresh and fun, and reminds me that strong communication and connection skills are valuable—and teachable—for anyone.

Thanks, Sara!

We love sharing information about our investors with the community! Use our Investor Spotlight submission form to tell us your story, and you could be featured in an Investor Spotlight in our newsletter and social media feeds! Click here to tell us your story!