About Ruth
Ruth Stoan is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 35 years of clinical experience. She guides people through stress, anxiety, grief, life transitions, and relationship concerns. Ruth uses clear language and practical steps so clients can see progress early on.
Ruth has worked in independent practice and community settings, helping people facing addiction, caregiving strain, and aging family issues. She has a Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and draws on a range of therapeutic styles.
Background and approach
Ruth combines active listening with tools that help clients build new habits and responses. Her sessions often include mindfulness practices, breath work, and imagery to reduce overwhelm. She also helps people notice and change thought patterns that get in the way of goals.
When useful, she brings coaching skills into sessions to set concrete steps and track progress. Ruth pays attention to both immediate problems and deeper patterns that limit wellbeing. She works collaboratively to create a plan that fits each person’s life and values.
Her aim is to strengthen the skills people already have and remove old habits that hold them back. Many people appreciate Ruth’s straightforward support during major life changes such as divorce, caregiving shifts, or career transitions. She offers video, phone, and text-based options so clients can choose the format that fits their schedule and comfort.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice thoughts and feelings without getting driven by them, then choose actions that match their values. It can be useful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and shifting unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, which often reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression through concrete exercises. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person in sessions with empathic listening and collaborative goal setting to build self-understanding and confidence.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Ruth will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels most helpful. Together they decide whether ACT, CBT, client-centered work, or a mix will best support the issues at hand. The plan can change as progress unfolds and new needs appear.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more accessible. Video is often chosen for fuller connection and visual cues, phone can require less bandwidth, chat or text can work for brief check-ins and ongoing support, and messaging lets people share between meetings. These options help fit therapy into busy schedules and different daily routines.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist 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
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