Lani Stoner

Lani Stoner is a California-based licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked in mental health since the late 1970s and brings 27 years of therapy experience to her work. She offers individual, couples, family, and group treatment and uses active, directive modalities that are often suited to brief therapy - while also remaining available for longer-term work when needed.

Raised in a family of educators, she moved frequently as a child and lived overseas during parts of her youth before returning to complete junior high and high school in Virginia. Her college years were spent in Pennsylvania and Washington DC, and she completed both a BA and an MA in Southern California. After marrying in 1975 and finishing her MA in Counseling Psychology at Chapman University in 1976, she relocated to a Central Valley city in California where she and her husband raised two children with the help of grandparents. In 2019 they moved to a smaller foothills community where their adult children now live.

Her professional background includes long service in county and agency settings from 1978 to 2006, with a major focus beginning in 1982 on work with chronically mentally ill adults. After retiring from public agency work she maintained a private practice serving children, adolescents, and adults through individual, couples, and family therapy until 2016. When family caregiving responsibilities required stepping back from full-time practice, she continued volunteer online work with the military population and provided limited private practice online. In 2020 she briefly returned to work with another public mental health system, and since then has resumed online pro bono work for military clients alongside a small online private practice.

Her training includes an MA in Counseling Psychology and coursework toward a gerontology certificate from Sacramento State University, and she pursues ongoing training in major mental illnesses and treatments. She works with people managing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship difficulties, parenting and family conflicts, trauma and abuse, addictions, bipolar disorder, ADHD, sleep disorders, career and self-esteem concerns, and compassion fatigue. She also has experience addressing challenges faced by first responders, veterans, and those who identify with LGBTQQIP2SAA communities.

She is trained and experienced in Critical Incident Stress (CIS) - a structured method for supporting people who have experienced traumatic events in work or school settings. Throughout her career she has balanced public agency roles, private practice, and volunteer online services, and she remains committed to helping people find hope, improved functioning, and healthier relationships.

She is licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist, a credential that authorizes her to provide therapy to individuals, couples, and families (license CA LMFT 30965).