About Ruth
Ruth Stoan is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 35 years of clinical experience. She guides people through stress, anxiety, grief, relationship concerns, and major life changes. Ruth blends practical tools with steady support to help clients move forward.
Ruth has worked in independent practice and community settings, alongside people facing addictions, caregiving demands, and end-of-life concerns. She has a Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
How Ruth works
Her long career means she draws on many approaches to suit different needs. Her style is collaborative and straightforward. She helps people identify what’s getting in the way, then builds a plan to change unhelpful habits and thoughts.
Sessions often include simple practices such as breathing exercises, mindfulness, imagery, and relaxation to reduce stress and regain calm. Ruth pays special attention to people navigating big identity or role shifts. That includes questions about purpose, relationships, and self-worth.
She supports work on communication, boundaries, intimacy concerns, codependency, and family of origin issues. Therapy can include short-term coaching goals or longer work on deeper patterns. Ruth uses video sessions to foster a stronger connection, and she also offers phone calls, live chat, and text-based messaging when that is a better fit.
She works with each person to set a pace and plan that feels doable.
Ruth lists 11 ways of working on the entry:
What Ruth works with
The areas below are the ones Ruth selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
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
Training and background
| Register | LPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 35 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Missouri |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that guide online work and growth
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that align with their values. It can be useful for anxiety, grief, and life transitions where values-based choices matter.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing them with practical steps and behavior changes. It suits stress, worry, depressive patterns, and many everyday problems that respond to skill building.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) focuses on emotional connection and patterns in close relationships. It can help with intimacy concerns, communication problems, and healing hurt in relationships.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Ruth will collaborate with each person to match methods to their goals, preferences, and needs. That process may blend different techniques so the plan fits what the person wants to change.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet. Video calls allow face-to-face contact for deeper conversations. Phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth is limited or a camera feels like too much. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for brief check-ins, journaling between sessions, or when a shorter, written exchange is preferred. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep progress steady across time.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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