Spark Center for Self Development
We’re as passionate about your personal growth as you are.
Spark Center is a therapy and education center located in midtown Sacramento near the bustling R Street Corridor, Ice Blocks, & Southside Park. Spark was founded in February 2017 by Executive Director and clinical psychologist Dr. Brenda Vaccaro following nearly two decades as a therapist in private practice and community mental health agencies.
We always aim to understand the contexts and complexities of your life—not just a set of symptoms or a diagnosis—and draw from several evidence-based and other effective therapeutic approaches to develop the right plan for your support:
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Brain-based, Attachment-focused Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Culturally Responsive & Inclusive Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy
Flexible Family-based Therapy
Harm Reduction Therapy (HRT)
Humanistic & Compassion-focused Care
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Motivational Interviewing
Narrative & Strength-based Therapy
Trauma-focused Therapy
Our Space
Yes, we even designed our office to promote your well-being!
We’ve tried our best to create a calm, comfortable, and refreshing environment to balance out the inevitably provocative work of personal development. We hope you’ll experience a sense of security, creativity, and vitality here.
Our Blog
Role Reversal: Caring for & Coping with an Aging Parent
Taking care of an aging parent can be a rewarding as well as an overwhelming, exhausting job. A parent who is living with chronic illness and/or dementia may have dramatic mood swings, become confused, intolerant, or demanding at times, and may forget...
Be Nice: It’s All About Self-Talk
If you take the time to really listen to the things you say to yourself every day, you may be shocked at how harsh you can be. We all say to ourselves things like, “Well, that was a stupid thing to do,” or “You will never get this right.” Could you imagine...
8 Tips for Surviving a Blended Family
Expect loyalty conflicts. These conflicts are inevitable and normal! Don’t be surprised if they appear soon after remarriage even when they didn’t exist before. Pace yourself when it comes to changing or imposing rules where none existed. Everyone...