About Dana Martinson, LMFT
Your Guide to Courageous Self-Discovery
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -Anais Nin
Embedded Files
From Women’s Health to Emotional Well-Being
For 23 years, I worked as a Labor & Delivery nurse, supporting women through one of life’s most profound and transformative experiences. I witnessed the incredible strength women bring to birth, but I also saw how often women felt anxious, overwhelmed, or emotionally unsupported during such a vulnerable time. In the midst of all the medical care, there wasn't enough attention given to how the woman herself was feeling.
I also know firsthand how overwhelming the transition to motherhood can be. My own experience with postpartum depression and postpartum OCD gave me a deeply personal understanding of how overwhelming this time can be and how different the reality of becoming a mother can be from what we imagined it would be.
Those experiences, both personal and professional, stayed with me and ultimately led me to become a therapist. Today, I bring that background in women's health into my work with women and couples navigating life transitions, motherhood, relationships, and trauma. My hope is to help you understand yourself more deeply, reconnect with your sense of Self, and create relationships that feel authentic, connected, and aligned with who you are.
My Therapeutic Philosophy
My approach is grounded in the belief that healing begins with understanding yourself with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment. Internal Family Systems (IFS) guides much of my work and recognizes that we all have different parts of ourselves; parts that have developed over time to protect us, even when the ways they protect us are no longer serving us.
“You are the one you’ve been waiting for,” a phrase coined by IFS founder Richard Schwartz, captures something important about how I approach therapy. My role isn’t to fix you, tell you what to do or who you should be. It’s to help you better understand yourself, trust yourself, and make choices that feel true to who you are.
Training & Expertise
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy
I'm Level 1 trained in IFS from the IFS Institute . IFS helps you understand the different parts of yourself with greater curiosity and compassion, including the parts that may be working hard to protect you. This approach can help you develop greater self-awareness, heal old wounds, and respond to yourself and others in new ways. I use IFS in my work with trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges.
EMDR and Trauma Processing
EMDR and Trauma Processing
I'm trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) from an EMDRIA approved trainer. EMDR is an evidence-based approach that can help you process traumatic or distressing experiences that continue to affect how you feel and respond in the present. Rather than having to talk through every detail, EMDR helps the brain process difficult memories so they feel less emotionally overwhelming. I use EMDR particularly in my work with birth trauma, other traumatic experiences, and life experiences that continue to feel "stuck".
Gottman Method
Gottman Method
I'm Level 2 trained in the Gottman Method, a research-based approach to couples therapy. I draw from Gottman's work to help couples strengthen friendship and intimacy, communicate more effectively, navigate recurring conflict, and build a stronger sense of partnership.
Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO)
Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO)
I incorporate Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO), the couples therapy model based in Internal Family Systems, to help partners understand the parts of themselves that become activated in relationships. This work helps couples look beneath reactions such as anger, defensiveness, pursuing, or withdrawing to better understand the emotions, fears, and needs underneath them and respond to each other with greater curiosity and compassion.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
I've completed Level 1 in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Debi Scimeca-Diaz, LMFT and am currently completing Level 2, along with on-going biweekly consultation. EFT is an attachment-based approach that helps couples understand the emotional patterns that can keep them feeling disconnected or stuck in conflict.
I use EFT to help partners look beneath reactions such as anger, criticsim, defensiveness, or withdrawal to undestand the deeper emotions and needs underneath them. This can help couples move out of painful cycles and toward greater emotional safety, responsiveness, and connection.
Mindfulness-Based Approaches
Mindfulness-Based Approaches
I received training and certification in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MBCT) and incorporate mindfulness throughout my work. Mindfulness can help you notice your thoughts, emotions, and physical snesations without immediately getting swept up in them. With greater awareness, you can begin to pause, get curious about what's happening inside, and choose how you want to respond rather than automatically falling into familiar patterns.
Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) and Perinatal Loss Advanced Training
Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) and Perinatal Loss Advanced Training
I received advanced training in Perinatal Mental Health and Perinatal Loss from Postpartum Support International (PSI) and am currently in the process of completing my PMH-C certification. This training deepens my work with women and couples navigating pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, anxiety and OCD, birth trauma, pregnancy loss, and the emotional transition to parenthood.
Combined with my 23 years in Labor and Delivery, this work allows me to bring both a clinical and deeply informed understanding of the challenges that can arise during pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.
Perinatal Child-Parent Psychotherapy (P-CPP)
Perinatal Child-Parent Psychotherapy (P-CPP)
I am currently completing an 18-month training in Perinatal Child-Parent Psychotherapy (P-CPP), an approach focused on supporting parents and the developing parent-child relationship during pregnancy and the first year after birth. The training explores how a parent's own history, trauma, attachment experiences, and emotional well-being can shape the transition to parenthood and the relationship with their baby.
This work helps me support parents in making sense of what gets stirred up during pregnancy and early parenthood, strengthening their connection with their child while developing greater compassion and understanding for themselves.
Why I’m Passionate About This Work
Why I’m Passionate About This Work
After decades of working with women, I've seen how easy it can be to lose touch with yourself while caring for everyone else, moving through major life transitions, or trying to hold everything together. I've also seen how much can change when women begin to understand themselves more deeply, trust what they need, and give themselves permission to make choices that feel right for them. It's a privilege to support women and couples as they create lives and relationships that feel more authentic, connected, and fulfilling.
Page updated
Report abuse