Today we’d like to introduce you to Maddison Martensen
Hi Maddison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up consisted of ups and downs, safe times and unsafe times, and I probably would be in a very different place in life if it weren’t for my grandmother, Janice Fillmore. My mom was an addict-she was addicted to drugs and alcohol when I was a child and my grandma really stepped up and became that person that built a foundation for me. In reality, what I remember of my early years were scary, unpredictable, and traumatic things happened. I would be remiss to not note that it was also full of fun, laughter, and a great extended familial support system. I remember at a young age saying, “I want to be someone like my grandma was to me” In all of this darkness my grandma was that light of hope. For those kids, adults, and those people out there that feel they have no one, who feel like life is just dark and hopeless… I wanted to learn how to bring that ray of light, of hope into other people’s lives. Teach them that they can feel stuck in the darkness but there can still be a light shining through.
I chose the path of social work and I attended the University of Utah and received both my Bachelor of Social Work and my Master of Social Work. I am currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) which allows me to provide therapy to individuals, families, couples, and groups. I started my career working with the substance use disorder population and worked in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers. I loved working in this area as it was personal to me knowing what my mom and various other family members had struggled with. Seeing my mom get clean after the childhood I had with her gave me the real life experience that it was possible to escape the realities of addiction. It was beautiful to work with some of the most inspiring and powerful people-my clients who are recovering from substance use disorders. I can’t tell you the way these clients changed my life, it’s the most real I’ve ever seen another human being be is when they are fighting for their freedom.
I have since moved onto working in Private Practice sector and began that journey working for Hobble Creek Behavioral Health in Spanish Fork with a dear friend of mine, Chris Wilkins, who was my first supervisor as a therapist. After working here for about 3 years I decided to take the leap and go out on my own and I created HealWorthy Therapy, LLC! Gotta keep spreading that light!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been about as smooth as an off-road trail. Even in the beginning when I was in school there were times that I significantly struggled. I wanted to drop out several times, I wasn’t sure if I would see the end without giving up because the stress of juggling all my responsibilities seemed overwhelming. I was able to develop a close friend group while in college, and we helped each other through.
I’ve been laid off due a reduction in the workforce and I had no idea what I was going to do. My grandmother passed away in 2021 and I wasn’t sure how this would affect my ability to show up for other people going forward. Working in recovery I’ve known several clients who die from the disease of addiction-it is a work that is sometimes full of heartbreak.
Private practice has also been full of its ups and downs and learning curves. Such as learning about the proper ways to set up a business, legalities, how to bill insurance, and all the documenting and laws we need to keep up with.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
HealWorthy Therapy, LLC was born out of my weird relationship with the word worthy. It felt like worthy was something that I could only attain through actions and behaviors rather than just being because I existed. I have since learned that our worth never changes based on our behaviors, I believe that the fact we just exist gives us inherent worth. That’s why I decided to take the word back, in a sense, and promote that we are all worthy of healing-even when we don’t feel worthy of anything. Embracing our worthiness and authenticity was one of my main purposes for creating HealWorthy Therapy.
I specialize in addiction recovery, trauma, life transitions, grief and loss, anxiety, and depression. I provide Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) which is a therapeutic approach designed to help individuals quickly process and resolve traumatic memories, emotional distress, and negative experiences. It combines elements of traditional talk therapy with guided visualization and eye movements. ART aims to help clients reframe distressing memories, reduce their emotional impact, and promote healing in a relatively short period. The technique is often used to treat conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
I believe it is important for us to be pushed out of our comfort zones and take responsibility for our lives-this is our light out.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I learned that it is important for me to respect the perspectives of various clients and their desire to remain safe from infection or them not caring. I’ve learned to set boundaries around my own health and the exposure that I could give client’s if I am sick. I also learned that technology provided access to clients through telehealth regardless if they had covid-19 or not. During the Covid-19 crisis I was working in an inpatient program so I still went to work everyday and it was interesting to adapt to new protocols.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://healworthytherapy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddisonmartensentherapy?igsh=NnBlaTUzYnJpbDZs&utm_source=qr
