Vanessa Martz is an older female counselor who is often described by her clients as having a motherly manner. She brings 28 years of professional experience and is a licensed professional counselor practicing in Alabama.

Her background is diverse, including work in science, military service, and higher education. She is a veteran, the widowed spouse of a veteran, the mother of a disabled veteran, and the daughter of a World War II veteran who lived with post-traumatic stress. These personal connections to military life inform her understanding of trauma and family dynamics.

Vanessa is a mother both by birth and adoption to five children and has provided foster care to 26 children over a span of 33 years. She is remarried and has navigated blended family challenges firsthand. As a Christian and a licensed pastor, she also provides pastoral services and integrates spiritual perspectives into her work when appropriate.

Having experienced violence and significant loss, Vanessa carries deep empathy for those who have faced similar hardships. She has engaged in extensive grief work personally and professionally, and she helps clients process bereavement and related emotions. She believes humans are often helpless, but never hopeless.

Clinically, Vanessa incorporates a range of therapeutic approaches to meet each person where they are. She frequently uses cognitive behavioral techniques combined with Grief Resolution Therapy, yet remains flexible in adapting methods to fit a client’s needs. She will at times explore a client’s spirituality during therapy – and if someone prefers not to examine their spiritual beliefs, she recognizes another therapist may be a better match.

Her goal in therapy is not to impose change but to help clients feel at peace with the choices they make in each moment and to support them in embracing the joy of living.