Mary Hargarten
Compassionate family-focused therapy with practical tools
- Credentials
- LCSW, LMFT
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed in
- Wisconsin
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Mary
Mary Hargarten is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with 25 years of experience. She practices in Wisconsin and offers therapy both in person and online. Mary brings a warm, caring, and nonjudgmental presence to sessions and uses plain language to help people find practical ways forward.
Mary focuses on family and parenting concerns alongside stress, anxiety, mood disorders, grief, trauma, relationship and intimacy issues, and life changes.
Background and approach
She also addresses caregiver stress, aging and geriatric issues, postpartum depression, and problems tied to divorce, communication, and family of origin. Her background includes work with domestic violence survivors and people coping with bipolar disorder and panic attacks. Her approach blends several methods so therapy fits each person.
She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to look at thoughts and actions, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to build values-based action, and Client-Centered techniques to create a respectful space. Mindfulness and Motivational Interviewing are woven in when useful to build motivation and present-moment awareness. Mary believes people already have strengths they can build on.
In sessions she helps clients notice those strengths, practice new skills, and try small, manageable changes. She pays attention to how family history shapes beliefs and habits, and she supports people in finding healthier patterns now. Her style is collaborative and down-to-earth.
She listens closely, asks practical questions, and offers clear strategies. Many clients come away with better coping skills, clearer goals, and a stronger sense of direction.
How practical therapy methods translate to online care
Mary uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people spot and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors; this approach is useful for anxiety, panic, mood struggles, and stress. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps clients clarify values and take small committed steps toward them while learning to accept hard feelings. Client-Centered Therapy provides a respectful, nonjudgmental space where the person’s perspective guides the work and helps build trust and confidence.Finding the right approach is part of therapy. Mary works together with each person to try methods that match their goals and preferences. She listens to what matters most, adjusts strategies over time, and reviews what is helping so the plan fits real life.
Online sessions offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from home, phone sessions can fit busy days, and live chat or text-based messaging can support brief check-ins or step-by-step skill practice. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent when schedules, caregiving, or mobility are factors.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Wisconsin
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Mary
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point