Marti L. Ledyard, Ph.D, MSW, LCSW,
Clinical Member, AAMFT

Experience: I am a licensed clinical social worker, licensed by the state of Missouri. I have 18 years of experience working with children, youth and their families in psychiatric hospital and chemical dependency settings. My clinical specialties include marital and family therapy as I have a doctorate in Counseling and Family Therapy. I have extensive experience in marital and family therapy as well as individual and group counseling.

Education: I have a Doctorate in Counseling and Family Therapy from Saint Louis University. I am a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. I have a Masters in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. My doctoral dissertation was titled “The Meaning of Weight in Marriage.” I interviewed 11 married couples in which at least one spouse was clinically obese about the influence of weight on their marriage and marriage on their weight.

Counseling Philosophy: I use a systemic perspective in which I attempt to enhance healthy family transactional patterns and to modify any interactions that negatively influence the family. As a systems therapist, I believe that an individual’s behavior can be understood as occurring within a family social system. My goal is to help couples and families to identify, understand and express their emotions, and out of that to make healthy choices.