About Martha
Martha "Marti" Stany is a licensed clinical social worker who brings ten years of experience to her counseling work. She practices in Wisconsin and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, trauma, relationship and intimacy concerns, and sexual identity questions. Marti emphasizes a respectful, down-to-earth approach that centers each person's own goals and values.
She uses practical strategies from approaches like acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Sessions often include clear steps to notice thoughts and feelings, try new behaviors, and practice skills that reduce distress.
Background and approach
Marti also draws on attachment-based and client-centered methods to strengthen how people connect and relate to others. Marti has worked with people facing addiction, grief, mood disorders such as depression and bipolar, and struggles with sleep, eating, and self-esteem. She also helps clients navigate caregiving stress, blended family issues, commitment and communication problems, and challenges related to kink and alternative sexual cultures.
Her background includes addressing trauma, dissociation, and compassion fatigue. People meet Marti over video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging, which lets conversations fit into busy schedules. Sessions are shaped around what each person needs in the moment and what they want to change.
She holds the LCSW credential, listed as IL LCSW 149018259, and also holds a Colorado credential listed as CO LCSW CSW.09927523. The work is collaborative, with an emphasis on practical tools and small steps toward clearer thinking and stronger relationships.
Therapeutic approaches adapted for online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and then choose actions that match their values. This can be useful for anxiety, stress, life changes, and motivation problems. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms. It often helps with depression, anxiety, sleep and eating concerns, and mood disorders. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns shape current connections and communication, and it can help with intimacy, relationship conflict, and trust issues.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked in the past. Together they will try methods and adjust the plan so it fits the person's life and needs.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video lets people connect face to face when that helps, phone calls work well when bandwidth is limited, and messaging supports brief check-ins or ongoing coaching between sessions. These options help fit therapy into work breaks, busy days, and different comfort levels while keeping the focus on practical steps and skill practice.
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Wisconsin
- Languages
- English