Hi, I’m Sherri Webster, LCSW, C-SWHC
I’m based in Dover, Delaware and work with clients across six states. I specialize in helping adults navigate life after a devastating diagnosis — their own or someone they love — when the fear, grief, and uncertainty feel impossible to carry alone.
I specialize in working with people navigating life after a serious diagnosis — when everything changes, but life doesn’t stop.
Not just the diagnosis itself, but everything that comes after it—the part most people are unprepared for and rarely feel understood in.
The moment when life keeps moving, but internally everything has shifted.
Most of the people I work with are still functioning on the outside. They’re going to work, taking care of family, making decisions, answering messages, and doing what needs to be done. But internally, they’re carrying a constant background of fear, grief, and uncertainty that doesn’t fully shut off.
That often shows up as:
- persistent “what if” thinking that won’t quiet down
- anticipatory grief about outcomes that haven’t happened yet
- emotional exhaustion from staying composed for other people
- fear that feels difficult to explain without overwhelming others
- and a sense of being alone inside something that feels too big to name
This is not general therapy work, and it’s not broad grief counseling.
It’s focused support for a very specific experience:
when something life-altering happens, but the rest of life does not pause for it.
Over the past decade, I’ve worked extensively with adults navigating serious medical diagnoses, chronic illness, caregiver stress, and anticipatory grief. My clinical approach is informed by both long-term experience in healthcare settings and specialized certification as a Certified Specialist in Health Care Social Work (C-SWHC), which focuses on the intersection of physical health crises and emotional impact.
What I’ve seen again and again is that people in this space are often expected to “stay strong” while internally feeling overwhelmed, frightened, or emotionally flooded—but without a place where that experience is fully understood without judgment or minimization.
In our work together, the goal is not to rush past what you’re feeling or force a positive frame onto something painful.
It’s to create a place where you don’t have to manage how you feel, translate it for others, or carry it alone.
A place where the fear, grief, and uncertainty can finally be spoken honestly—so you’re not holding all of it by yourself anymore.
You don’t have to wait until things feel unmanageable to get support.
And you don’t have to navigate this kind of emotional weight alone.
I’m based in Dover, Delaware, with deep roots along the East Coast — from the Jersey Shore to the Delmarva Peninsula to the Florida coast. Water has always been part of my story. I grew up walking to a lighthouse, breathing in salty, marshy air, and feeling the particular kind of calm that only comes from being near the bay. My family’s connection to the water runs deep — and that feeling, that sense of steadiness and expansiveness you get when you’re standing at the edge of something bigger than yourself, is exactly what I hope people find here.
Rising Sails isn’t just a name. It’s a feeling. The moment when the wind catches and something shifts — when forward finally feels possible again.
If you are interested in scheduling a consult, you can schedule here.
Are you a therapist looking for Clinical Supervision? I offer that too. Let’s connect!