Soffia Elisabet Palsdottir, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist · Founder, Saga Health & Wellness
I came to this work by sitting with people at some of the hardest moments of their lives, through extensive experience as a psycho-oncology psychologist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, in hospital rooms during cancer treatment, in the quiet aftermath of a diagnosis that changed everything. Those years at the bedside taught me that people are never just a set of symptoms to manage. They're a whole story, still being written, and good care has to make room for all of it.
My time as Chief Psychologist at a multi-location practice sharpened all of this. Leading clinical operations at scale meant designing a model of care built around meeting every patient where they are, understanding them at a deep level before deciding what they need, because I saw firsthand how much that depth of understanding shapes treatment and outcome. Saga is where I get to practice that model fully: a place with enough time and enough trust to know a person before deciding what they need.
Theoretically, I work primarily from a psychodynamic and relational lens, I'm most interested in the patterns beneath the presenting problem, and in how early relationships continue to shape a person's inner life. I am not exclusively a psychodynamic therapist, though. I integrate psychodynamic, mindfulness-based, cognitive-behavioral, and existential modalities, with a strong emphasis on the mind-body connection and the impact of lifestyle factors, including sleep, movement, and nutrition, on psychological well-being. I also stay open to innovative approaches, including TMS and mind-body interventions, when a patient's picture calls for something beyond talk therapy alone. The frame changes; the commitment to understanding someone fully before treating them does not.
Originally from Iceland, I grew up moving between languages and places, which left me with a lasting curiosity about how people make sense of themselves in different contexts. Outside the office, that same curiosity shows up as a love of long-form storytelling, the kind of sagas our practice is named for, and a belief that the best insights often come from stepping back, not leaning in harder.
Why we work outside insurance networks.
Saga is structured as a private-pay, out-of-network practice. This is a deliberate choice, not a limitation. Insurance-based care places constraints on session length, frequency, treatment duration, and the types of services that are covered, constraints that often make it difficult to provide the thorough, individualized care that complex presentations require.
By working outside insurance networks, we maintain full clinical autonomy: the freedom to spend the time a comprehensive evaluation actually requires, to see patients at the frequency that makes clinical sense, and to make treatment decisions based on the formulation, not the coverage. We provide superbills for patients who wish to seek out-of-network reimbursement, and we're happy to help you understand your benefits before you begin.
For questions about fees, payment, or insurance reimbursement, please contact us directly.