LaDonna Barner, LMFT
Midlife transitions and relationship support
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- Relationship focus
- Practical tools
- Collaborative style
About LaDonna
LaDonna Barner is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on relationship and life transitions. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, grief, self-esteem struggles, parenting concerns, and changes that often come in midlife. Her work centers on building an open space where clients can speak honestly about what they are feeling and thinking.
With six years of experience, she draws on practical, talk-and-action methods that aim to make daily life feel more manageable. Sessions emphasize clear communication, realistic steps, and tools clients can try between meetings. LaDonna pays attention to patterns in relationships and individual habits that contribute to ongoing frustration or sadness.
Her approach uses client-centered listening alongside techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to notice unhelpful thinking and try new behaviors. She also integrates emotionally focused methods to help understand and shift relationship dynamics, and the Gottman Method to address communication and conflict. These approaches are used to help people working through issues like intimacy concerns, family stress, trauma, mood differences, and attention-related challenges.
LaDonna works with a wide range of concerns, including adoption and foster care questions, caregiver stress, body image, chronic illness, and codependency. She practices in Mississippi and conducts sessions in English. Her style is straightforward and collaborative, with an emphasis on small changes that build better routines and more satisfying connections.
To begin, she asks people to take a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to availability. The goal is practical progress and a clearer path forward, one step at a time.
With six years of experience, she draws on practical, talk-and-action methods that aim to make daily life feel more manageable. Sessions emphasize clear communication, realistic steps, and tools clients can try between meetings. LaDonna pays attention to patterns in relationships and individual habits that contribute to ongoing frustration or sadness.
Her approach uses client-centered listening alongside techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to notice unhelpful thinking and try new behaviors. She also integrates emotionally focused methods to help understand and shift relationship dynamics, and the Gottman Method to address communication and conflict. These approaches are used to help people working through issues like intimacy concerns, family stress, trauma, mood differences, and attention-related challenges.
LaDonna works with a wide range of concerns, including adoption and foster care questions, caregiver stress, body image, chronic illness, and codependency. She practices in Mississippi and conducts sessions in English. Her style is straightforward and collaborative, with an emphasis on small changes that build better routines and more satisfying connections.
To begin, she asks people to take a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to availability. The goal is practical progress and a clearer path forward, one step at a time.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Stress, AnxietyTrauma and abuseGriefIntimacy-related issuesEating disordersAnger managementBipolar disorderDepressionADHD
Additional focus areas
AbandonmentAdoption and foster careAging and geriatric issuesAntisocial personalityAttachment issuesAutism and Asperger SyndromeAvoidant personalityBlended family issuesBody imageCaregiver issues and stressChronic pain, illness, and disabilityCodependencyCommitment issuesCommunication problemsControl issuesCoping with natural or human-caused disasterDisruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)Divorce and separationEating and food-related issuesEmptinessFamily of origin issuesFamily problemsFatherhood issuesFertility issuesForgivenessGuilt and shameHoardingHospice and end-of-life counselingImpulsivityIsolation / lonelinessJealousyLife purposeMidlife crisisVeteran and Armed Forces IssuesMoney and financial issuesMood disordersMulticultural concernsObsessions, compulsions, and OCDPanic disorder and panic attacksParanoiaPhobiasPostpartum depressionPost-traumatic stressPregnancy and childbirthPrejudice and discriminationProcess addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)Self-harmSelf-loveSexual assault and abuseSexual dysfunctionSmoking / vaping cessationSocial anxiety and phobiaSomatizationTrichotillomaniaWomen's issuesWorkplace issuesYoung adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
Client-Centered TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)Existential TherapyGottman MethodMindfulness TherapyMotivational InterviewingSolution-Focused TherapyTrauma-Focused TherapyInternal Family SystemsSystemic Therapy
Experience
6+ years
Credentials
Mississippi
Languages
English
How therapeutic approaches fit into online work
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding a person's experience without judgment, helping people find their own direction and strengths. It can be useful when someone needs a supportive space to sort through big feelings and life choices.Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) looks at links between thoughts, feelings, and actions, and offers clear strategies to test new behaviors. It helps with anxiety, depression, stress, and habits that get in the way of daily functioning.
Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) targets how people respond to emotional needs in relationships and aims to improve connection and trust. It is helpful for intimacy issues, communication breakdowns, and recurring conflicts.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and then suggest methods that fit those aims. Decisions about techniques are made together and can change as progress is made.
Please confirm which session formats are offered before booking, since formats are not specified here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. It can also let people join from a quiet place that suits them, avoid commuting around work, or keep regular momentum during life transitions.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does LaDonna address?
She works with relationship and family stress, parenting challenges, self-esteem, coping with life changes, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, grief, intimacy issues, eating and anger concerns, bipolar and ADHD related struggles, and related topics.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her style is collaborative and straightforward. She combines listening with practical steps from client-centered and cognitive behavioral approaches to help people try new ways of thinking and acting.
What is her professional background?
She has six years of professional experience working with people on relationship and life transition issues and related concerns.
What credentials and location are listed?
She holds an MS and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practicing in Mississippi.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
Are international clients accepted?
International clients are not currently accepted.
How are sessions priced?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin a therapy relationship?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to the therapist's availability.