Libby Marler, LPC, PMH-C
As a mother of four, I fully appreciate the spectrum of emotions that come with motherhood. From grieving a loss of your "past self", mom guilt, finding a "work-life" flow, making decisions to stay at home, navigating the pressures of social media, and managing the "mental load" to being overwhelmed with love for these little humans...parenting in this modern world is often overwhelming. I am here to help!
I specialize in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and have attended multiple trainings and completed a national recognized testing program through Postpartum Support International (PSI) to achieve additional licensing as a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional (PMH-C). I am also trained in EMDR with a specialized focus on the perinatal period.
"Parenting can be one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs you will have and I work to ensure parents learn to prioritize their own self-care and wellbeing in order to be present in quality moments with their families."
From the start of perinatal counseling, I offer a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and treatment plan. We will get to know each other and become comfortable while filling your tool-box with coping skills based on evidenced-based therapy as our professional relationship continues. I often partner with healthcare providers and reproductive psychiatrists when symptoms are severe enough to impair normal functioning and warrant medication management. Together, we will weigh risks and benefits of options and decide what is in your best interest for how to find wellness in your life for you and your family.
My areas of focus also includes maternal mental health, parenting, grief and loss, as well as anxiety issues. Counseling appointment fees are $175 for a 50 minute session, you can read more about our fees and private practice policies on our FAQ page.
Diversity of Experience
I have worked in many different counseling contexts including non-profit work, public mental health, and church ministry. This wide array of clinical experience allows me to provide individualized treatment for the clients she sees. I have served as a volunteer group facilitator at The Warm Place, an agency that provides grief support for children and their families and also at Cook Children’s where I worked with children and their families, providing emotional support and play activities throughout their hospitalization.
Recently on the blog —>>
In the past several weeks, I’ve learned that many of the “thoughts” I was having were actually mental compulsions. I — like many others — had always associated the disorder with compulsive behaviors like washing one’s hands, counting floor tiles, or checking to see if a door was locked. But for those with Pure OCD or Pure O (nicknames for a subset of the disorder that don’t present physical behaviors), compulsions may be “rumination, mental reviewing, avoidance, reassurance seeking, or compulsive checking,” explains Chrissie Hodges, a mental health advocate and author Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The way I reviewed situations to determine how I felt or recall what I did, the way I asked loved ones for definite, concrete answers, and my obsessive internet research were all anxiety-reducing behaviors. Like someone who feels the need to wash their hands in order to feel clean, I needed to do these things in order to quell my worries.