About Ruth
Ruth Stoan is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 35 years of experience offering practical emotional support. She welcomes people who are ready to take a first step toward change and prefers a collaborative, down-to-earth style. Ruth emphasizes clear goals and real-world skills rather than long lectures.
She uses video, phone, chat, and text to fit sessions into busy lives. Ruth often helps people navigate stress, anxiety, depression, and grief.
Background and approach
She also supports those dealing with relationship and intimacy concerns, addiction-related issues, career questions, and the strain of caregiving. Many clients come for help with self-esteem, life transitions, or questions about identity and belonging. Her approach blends several therapy styles to match the person's needs.
Techniques include acceptance and commitment work, cognitive tools to reframe thinking, and emotionally focused strategies to strengthen connections. Ruth also uses mindfulness practices and breathing exercises to reduce tension and improve focus. Sessions begin by identifying immediate concerns and practical next steps.
Over time Ruth works with clients to uncover deeper patterns that limit progress, like old habits or recurring beliefs. Together they build skills to manage emotions, improve communication, and set achievable goals. Ruth practices in Missouri and offers services for people across locations, including international clients.
She aims to be an advocate and partner in change, helping clients tap their strengths and move toward the life they want.
Therapeutic approaches that translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on identifying values and taking committed action toward them while learning to accept difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help with anxiety, depression, and coping with life transitions by shifting attention toward meaningful steps rather than getting stuck in struggle.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It teaches practical skills to challenge unhelpful thoughts and build new habits, which can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress in everyday situations.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) helps people understand and reshape emotional responses in close relationships. It is useful for improving communication, increasing emotional connection, and working through intimacy or relationship challenges.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Ruth collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and personality. She mixes techniques as needed and adjusts the plan based on how things are going so the client stays involved in decisions.
Online sessions make therapy more flexible. Video calls let the therapist and client read visual cues and practice skills together. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging provide quick check-ins, brief coaching, or ongoing support between longer sessions. These formats help people fit therapy into busy lives and keep progress moving forward.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self-love
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- Missouri
- Languages
- English