Sara Pollard

Dr. Sara Pollard, ABPP, is a licensed psychologist in independent practice in north Dallas. She started at The Chicago School by developing and teaching the Basic Intervention: Systems course for the Dallas PsyD program in 2021. She joined the core faculty in 2023 and now chairs doctoral dissertations related to diversity, trauma, and child and family intervention topics, as well as teaching the Supervision, Consultation and Professional Practice course and serving as the course lead for the Diversity and Child Psychopathology courses. Dr. Pollard provides individual and family psychotherapy, parent consultation, and psychological assessments for children, adolescents, and adults via her private practice. Dr. Pollard has special interests in cultural and family diversity, Latine immigrant populations, attachment, trauma, perinatal mental health, interprofessional training and integrated care, and collaborative psychological assessment. She has completed foundational training in EMDR, as well as certifications in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Triple P: Positive Parenting Program. She is one of very few Board Certified Couple and Family Psychologists in Texas and in 2024 joined the American Board of Couple and Family Psychology (ABCFP) as an Oral Examiner. She has served as the Diversity Representative and Maintenance of Certification Coordinator for the ABCFP. She also previously served as the Early Career Chair, Advocacy Chair, and Member-at-Large for the Collin County Psychological Association (CCPA) and in June, 2025 began a term as President-Elect of CCPA.

Dr. Pollard graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree with a double major in Psychology and French from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. She studied abroad in France, Spain, and Mexico, and after graduating, she taught English in French elementary schools. She then worked in substance abuse research in the Family Medicine program at the UT-Houston Health Science Center. In 2013, Dr. Pollard earned her PhD from the APA-accredited program in Counseling Psychology at the University of North Texas, with an emphasis in child and family psychology, completing practicum training in community and university mental health settings. She completed her APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship in Clinical Child Psychology at Momentous Institute in Dallas, and her post-doctoral fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, with a focus on evidence-based treatments for maltreated children and nonoffending caregivers. Throughout her training, Dr. Pollard gained extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and adults, as well as couples and families, from diverse backgrounds, including those needing services provided in Spanish, with a variety of presenting concerns. She has also worked on multidisciplinary teams alongside physicians (pediatric primary care, child abuse specialists, and psychiatrists), nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and child welfare professionals, child development specialists, and other mental health clinicians. She codeveloped the integrated primary care program for children in the child welfare system at the Rees-Jones Center for Foster Care Excellence at Children's Medical Center and UT Southwestern, where she worked as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry for 6 years. She has experience teaching undergraduate psychology students as well as advanced trainees in psychology (practicum students, interns, and postdoctoral fellows), pediatrics, and psychiatry.