Shayla Martin, LGPC
Therapist
Shayla Martin, LGPCTrauma-informed Perinatal/Postpartum Therapist & Couples Counselor
"Supporting clients toward healing, reconnection, and a stronger sense of self."
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Shayla's specialties
Who she works with
Shayla specializes in compassionate, client-centered care for individuals and couples navigating pregnancy, postpartum struggles, fertility challenges, and the transition into parenthood. Having gone through her own path to parenthood and fertility struggles, she understands first-hand what support parents need in this transition. She also holds space for clients navigating the heartbreak of perinatal loss, through both individual and couples therapy. Beyond perinatal mental health, she supports clients experiencing the impact of past trauma, PTSD, relationship difficulties, anxiety, depression, and major life transitions.
How she works
Shayla integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, somatic interventions, and mindfulness-based therapy within a holistic, trauma-informed approach, helping clients move through life's most vulnerable moments with clarity and confidence. She's especially drawn to inner-child healing and self-discovery, and to helping clients understand the mind-body connection well enough to shift perspective and alchemize stress, trauma and anxiety into meaningful change. Her own transition from a career in television and film into mental health work shapes how she guides clients through their own shifts — helping them set boundaries, overcome avoidance, and reconnect with their emotions.
I help clients understand the mind-body connection, shift perspectives, and transform stress, trauma, and anxiety into meaningful growth.
Training & Credentials
Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Argosy University
Bachelor of Science in Communications, Western Carolina University
Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor — Washington, DC
Specialized training in Perinatal Mental Health (PSI)
Trained in Trauma-Focused CBT
Trained in Gottman Bringing Home Baby
What a first session is like
After your free 30-minute consultation, if it feels like the right fit, you will schedule your first full 50–55-minute session.
For individual therapy, the first few sessions are a chance to begin developing a fuller, more holistic understanding of what you are facing now. Shayla will learn about your history, when the current concerns began or became more difficult, what has shaped them, and what you have already tried. Together, you will start to make sense of the larger context around your experiences and identify where the work can begin.
For couples, the first full session focuses on understanding your relationship, the concerns that brought you in, and the pattern that may be keeping you stuck. Each partner then has an individual intake session with Shayla, giving her the opportunity to understand each person’s history and perspective. Ongoing sessions are generally held together as a couple.
If that sounds like what you are looking for, book a 30-minute consultation call with Shayla.
Questions people ask Shayla
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Yes. Shayla is in network with CareFirst, BCBS, and Anthem plans. Coverage and copays can vary by plan. We are happy to help you understand your insurance benefits and the next steps when you reach out.
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Yes. Shayla works with the full range of the fertility journey — including the parts that are hard to put into words yet — not only clients with a formal diagnosis.
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Yes — this is one of the most central parts of Shayla's work. She holds space for the heartbreak of perinatal loss through both individual and couples therapy, and has specialized clinical training in providing this support.
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Couples often arrive having spent months explaining themselves to someone who stayed neutral but was wrapped up in the content of your argument. Gottman’s Couples Therapy works differently: the focus is on the negative interactions you fall into in these difficult moments and arguments. Shayla helps you slow down and understand that pattern, discuss alternative strategies to learn to respond differently in difficult moments.
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It depends. If your partner is reluctant about Couples Therapy, you can still book a consultation and meet with Olesya on your own to talk through what is happening if you’re open to Individual therapy for your relationship struggles. Relationship work done in individual therapy is also benefticial and a lot can shift at home when one person changes how they handle the pattern. So if you are open to individual therapy, the consultation is still worth having.
However, if you’re just interested in Couples Therapy, then one thing to know before you decide is that if Tess becomes your individual therapist, she cannot later be your couples therapist. Couples work depends on both partners believing the therapist is genuinely even-handed, and a partner who arrives knowing you already have a therapy relationship with that therapist rarely feels that way — however fair the therapist actually is. So if what you are really hoping for is couples therapy with Tess, then its better to wait until your partner comes around and start that work together.
Book a free consultation call
No Phone tag. Pick a time that suits you to speak to Shayla.
