Laura Stoesz

About my practice: Empowerment and empathy are at the heart of my practice. I meet with adults and children ages 8 and up who are experiencing mental health concerns including anxiety, mood, and adjustment disorders, trauma symptoms, and social stressors. I also love to support people in exploring or embracing identity, disability, gender, or sexuality, and people who are supporting loved ones doing so. Other special interests include life transitions, vocation, career, making sense of life experiences, connecting with spirituality and nature, and learning about new ways to boost mental health across the lifespan. I see mental health concerns as responses to painful, stressful, or unjust circumstances, and I think healing and change are possible. I use an intersectional feminist counseling approach that can apply to anyone, because I believe all people are impacted by systems of injustice in different ways. Anyone can benefit from therapy that considers how those systems affect you and the world around you. Therapy is about becoming and loving more of who you are and how you are with others so that you can live in a way that is deeply satisfying to you. My practice is diversity-affirming, trauma-informed, and strengths focused. I value your unique experiences, communities, and family networks, and I pay attention to social and cultural context. I work with you or your child to build trust and from there to help establish safety, to remember and mourn losses and traumas, and to reconnect with life. To support you in naming and moving toward goals, I listen to you and offer reflections, skills, techniques, and creative self-reflection opportunities. With kids, I offer play and art therapy, as well as family systems thinking. Together, we create a counseling relationship that supports learning, growing, and maybe some change. I'm excited to meet you! About me: I graduated from UW-Madison in 2024 with my master's in counseling after an internship working with clients with co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns. As a Licensed Professional Counselor in Training (LPC-IT), I am supervised by an experienced clinician while I earn my full licensure. I went into the mental health field after working in the food service industry and as a receptionist in a mental health clinic. As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, going to therapy was an important part of my own self-discovery and self-acceptance. Personal and professional experiences showed me how important it is that people have access to mental health care that is supportive and affirming. I want to provide that kind of care to you!