Structural Family Therapy in Vermont

Hi, I'm Marissa Manning, a Vermont clinician with a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California. I have worked in the medical field for 13 years, and as a medical social worker for 5 of those years. I have a passion for supporting people throughout the lifespan including new mothers/fathers as they navigate changes that come with parenthood, as well as the geriatric community navigating aging, and at times loss of independence. With this I also enjoy working with caregivers discussing burnout and changes in roles in the family system.

At many points in our lives each of us faces challenges that can require unique solutions. We thrive when we find balance in our daily life, therefore, I focus on helping people regain or find a new equilibrium. Often the first step is finding what is important to you.

I provide counseling to couples, families and individual adults and adolescents. I have experience treating people with a broad range of emotional and relational issues; these include anxiety, depression, and relationship conflict. I assist people in utilizing their strengths to believe in themselves and make changes that improve the quality of their lives and their relationships.

I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in state of Vermont who has been practicing therapy in private practice for seventeen years. I love working in therapeutic relationship with people of many ages, genders, sexual orientations, race and abilities. I believe in partnering with all my clients to be present with the full range of our humanness.

Are you or a loved one struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, or behavioral, substance, or spiritual issues? Are you a couple looking for help? If so, I hope you’ll reach out. I work virtually and from physical offices in Manchester and Dorset, Vermont, and provide integrated mental health counseling services to persons seeking to re-establish or improve daily functioning. I am trained as a psychotherapist and minister. Clients appreciate my supportive and solution-focused approach to counseling.

Relationships in Crisis: We Have Several Private Couples/Marriage Workshops & Individual Sessions, in order to Rapidly Accelerate Your Healing & Your Communication Process (Traditional 45 min. session Simply Does Not Work). During these 2 to 4 weeks, we will see both of you Together & Individually, as well as Help each of you Learn the Art of Empathy, Sensitivity & Compassion. These Workshops are Informative & Powerful, in order to Accelerate the Healing Process & Stop any further Damage from Occurring. In Addition, Our Success RATE is 85% of Our Couples that have Successfully Completed Our Couples Workshops or Alcohol Treatment.

Choosing a therapist for yourself or loved one can be a difficult task. A true "Master" of the healing arts is one who has spent years learning, practicing, and refining their skills as a healer. Individuals, couples and families first entering into the therapeutic relationship often feel overwhelmed, confused, anxious and vulnerable. They need to feel safe by knowing that they are truly being heard and respected. They also need to trust that their therapist has sufficient experience to patiently guide them thru the process of self discovery on their path to wellness and feeling whole, perhaps for the first time in their life.

I seek to help children, teens, and adults in need of positive support or whom may be struggling with behavior support questions, attention deficit, depression, anxiety, goal development, and family relational problems. I support personal goal coaching and provide a safe environment for exploration in a number of many other areas. I seek to bring elements of joy, comfort, and safety to the personal process of healing.

I work with couples, families, and individuals looking to strengthen feelings of connection as they navigate relational challenges, transitions, and changes. I have witnessed the powerful healing that can occur when people, like you, allow themselves to be vulnerable and courageous in seeking support. I work to create an environment where people can feel safe to share their stories and open up about their challenges, strengths, values, perspectives, and hopes for the future. I believe in the importance of understanding problems through a systemic lens and supporting people in creating meaningful and lasting changes in their lives.

Life is complicated. Our history, experiences and trauma affect not only who we are but also how we interact with the world. Whether you are struggling with childhood memories, recent trauma or simply trying to find solutions to balance out life, we can process them together. Therapy is about going deep, processing the wounds that affect us and integrating them into our current selves in order to live productively and meaningfully in the world.

People seek therapy for many reasons such as feeling lonely, overwhelmed, anxious or sad. My client centered approach supports the client taking an active role in their therapy. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist that has many years working with children through adults. My approach to family therapy and marriage therapy is to understand the dynamics of the relationships and how to foster growth. I hope to provide a collaborative and comfortable space to help solve or manage daily struggles, life transitions, divorce, marriage, co-parenting, anxiety, depression.

I specialize in couples therapy because I am passionate about developing connections, improving communication, and understanding with ourselves and our partner(s). I have experience working with couples struggling with healthy, effective communication, healing attachment wounds, improving their physical, emotional, and mental connections, working through infidelity, becoming new parents, coping with life stressors together, and maintaining healthy relationships. In sessions, we practice empathy and communication, identify negative patterns, and develop strategies that lead towards the relationship you desire.

Life is full of emotions, sometimes its joy but sometimes its a sense of struggling and pain. Anxiety, depression, trauma, stress, and relationship/marital problems can all add to this sense of struggling. Especially, when we aren't well equipped to withstand it. Sometimes that struggle feels like this heavy cloud or mask we walk around with. Sometimes that struggle isolates us and causes us to become disconnected from ourselves or our loved ones. Playing tug of war with that struggle only makes it more draining.

Hilary Pearce is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with extensive experience with a variety of complex emotional and life challenges with adults and children with special interest in young adults and couples. Grounded in a fundamental understanding of how to create a compassionate space to heal, learn, and grow. You deserve to feel empowered and capable of managing life's challenges and there's no better time than now.

I work with individuals, couples, and families who wish for some kind of change in their lives. Common therapeutic goals for the people I work with include, a desire for increased closeness with family and friends, the ability to experience feelings more clearly, a stronger sense of self-worth, and more effective communication within families. People often wish to develop the ability to tolerate individual and collective pain, without doing themselves and each other harm. Most are seeking compassion and understanding. My commitment is to offering that compassion, and to supporting people in achieving their own understanding.

Good therapy can produce long lasting life changes. I approach therapy as a collaborative effort. I start with where the client finds themselves in the present. I listen with both curiosity and empathy to understand an individual's unique experience. In treatment I create an atmosphere of trust where together we can identify your strengths, find practical solutions to problems and unfold underlying difficulties that are obstacles to your experience of a rich and fulfilling life.

Throughout my years of practice my work has been enriched by all the people I have supported to experience their capacity while navigating some of life’s most difficult challenges. Now more than ever, living in a COVID-19 pandemic, facing day to day challenges can feel even more overwhelming. I believe in each person’s competence and resilience, and I am confident that I can help clients to live life to the fullest with integrity, dignity and courage. I work with families, couples and individuals from diverse backgrounds. LGBTQIA clients are welcome.

Maple Leaf Clinic, P.C. founded by Dr. Dean Mooney, provides a wide variety of services to the community including neuropsychological, educational, and psychological evaluations of children, adolescents and adults. Psychotherapy for people of all ages is also available. We also provide social skills development for all ages, cognitive rehabilitation for brain damage using the REHABIT program, professional development, and educational or clinical consultation (in person, by phone, or through FaceTime, Zoom, Doxy, Google Meet, or other telehealth options).

I believe that each client is their own best expert, and has come to counseling because they have hit a log jam or bump in the road. Often times they have unresolved issues in their past that have been triggered by current issues that have the same theme. Also, some clients come to counseling due to current situations that are more short-term. My counseling style is very respectful, collaborative, going at a pace that meets the client's needs. Validation of the client's strengths, feelings and stressors is key to helping them transcend traumas and negative experience of the past and present.