Lani Stoner , LMFT

Lani Bain Stoner is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a credential that indicates specialized training in working with individuals, couples, and families. She earned an MA in Counseling Psychology from Chapman University and completed gerontology coursework at Sacramento State University, and she has combined formal education with decades of hands-on experience across public agency and private practice settings.

Stoner has worked in county and agency programs, focusing for many years on adults with chronic mental illness as well as providing services to children, adolescents and the elderly. Following a transition into private practice, she provided psychotherapy for individuals, couples and families and later shifted some of her work online, including volunteer services for military members, veterans and their families. Her training includes CIS - a structured approach for addressing traumatic events encountered in work or school environments.

Her clinical style emphasizes brief, focused modalities while remaining open to longer-term work when indicated. Stoner typically adopts an active and directive therapeutic stance, combining evidence-informed methods to help clients improve functioning, strengthen relationships and find renewed hope. She has experience addressing trauma and abuse, grief and loss, addiction concerns, mood disorders including bipolar symptoms, stress and anxiety, parenting and family dynamics, caregiving and geriatric issues, chronic illness and pain, and LGBTQ identities. Stoner is based in California and is not currently accepting new clients.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care with Lani Stoner

Client-centered therapy places the client at the heart of the work, emphasizing empathy, listening and collaboration so people can explore values, feelings and goals - it is useful for relationship concerns, grief, identity questions and coping with life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on the links between thoughts, emotions and behaviors and offers practical strategies to reduce anxiety, manage mood symptoms and change unhelpful patterns. Mindfulness therapy encourages present-moment awareness and self-compassion, teaching skills to reduce stress, improve sleep and manage chronic emotional or physical discomfort.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Lani works collaboratively with clients to determine which methods fit their needs, goals and preferences, adapting a primarily brief and goal-directed stance while remaining open to longer-term work when helpful.

Online therapy with Lani can take place by video call, phone session, live chat or text-based messaging, offering flexibility for people with busy schedules, caregiving responsibilities or mobility limitations. These options make it easier to maintain continuity of care, access consistent support from home or on the go, and choose the communication mode that feels most comfortable for each person.