Marcia Tharp , LICSW, LCSW

Marcia Tharp is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 18 years of professional experience. She is based in Montana and brings a calm, down-to-earth manner to sessions. Marcia focuses on practical steps people can use right away to feel steadier and more able to cope.

She frames therapy as a shared process. Marcia listens closely, helps clarify what matters most, and then works with each person to try new ways of handling stress, worry, or painful memories. Her approach draws on client-centered conversation, cognitive techniques, mindfulness, and narrative work to uncover options and choices.

Marcia has supported people dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and abuse, and the strain of major life changes. She also helps with parenting concerns, sleep problems, anger, low self-esteem, career stress, ADHD, bipolar mood issues, and compassion fatigue. Her practice includes attention to adoption and foster care topics, attachment and abandonment issues, caregiver stress, chronic illness, dissociation, and other focused needs.

Sessions are offered over video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Marcia aims to create a nonjudgmental space where thoughts and feelings can be shared, and where small experiments or new habits are tried between meetings. She encourages clear goals and step-by-step progress.

To begin, a short matching questionnaire and scheduling step connects people to a session rhythm that fits their life. Marcia emphasizes steady, practical work and respects the courage it takes to seek help.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and reflecting so people feel heard and understood; it helps when someone needs a steady space to sort feelings and decide what matters next. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thought and behavior and teaches clear strategies to change unhelpful habits and reduce symptoms of anxiety or depression. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, brings tools for managing strong emotions and improving tolerance for stress, and can be useful for anger, mood instability, and impulsive reactions.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Marcia collaborates with each person to identify which methods fit their goals and preferences, and she adjusts the mix as progress is made. That means trying practical techniques, checking what helps, and shifting focus when needed.

Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to make scheduling easier. Video is helpful for in-depth conversation and skill practice, phone calls can be a simpler check-in with less bandwidth, live chat suits quick exchanges, and messaging lets people reflect between sessions. These formats aim to make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, family, and daily life.