When Judy Martin Trexler (Judy Martin Trexler LCSW, LLC) describes the methods she uses in her therapy, she’ll leave you wondering, “What else does she have in her bag of tools?” With her encouraging smile and her energetic demeanor, her contagious positive attitude will rub off on you in no time. It also helped that the day I visited, her four-legged therapy assistant, Mitzi, had a patient to see as well.

Judy utilizes a range of therapy techniques. Pet therapy, hypnotherapy and play therapy are among her tools. Pet therapy helps Judy’s younger patients be more comfortable and evokes memories in her older patients. Judy uses hypnotherapy to aid in therapy for stress management, weight loss and smoking. Mitzi is a certified therapy dog and was in the office to help with a patient with low self esteem…Mitzi’s dress (yes, she was wearing a dress) said, “I love me!”

Judy first realized that she was interested in therapy when she was in high school. Her class took a field trip to a mental health hospital and she immediately thought, “Oh, I wish I worked here!” This field trip changed her life; Judy isn’t sure if she would have even attended college had she not gone on it. “I knew that in order to do what I wanted to do, I had to get a degree.” After pursuing her education, Judy stayed in the therapy field to help others, “I design a treatment plan unique to every patient. I am very skillful and experienced.”

A job opening at Greenleaf Counseling Center is what brought Judy from Tennessee to Valdosta back in 1985. “I stayed because it felt like home.” After a while Judy made friends here, and what she and what she had in mind as being a temporary location became permanent. Judy and her husband Steve, who is the Guidance Counselor at Lake Park Elementary, plan to stay here along with Mitzi and Mitzi’s brothers and sisters, all of which are rescues.

Judy Martin Trexler, LCSW, LLC is located in the AR Psychiatric & Counseling Center at 3312-D North Oak Street Ext. Judy can be reached at 229-244-2030 or directly on her cell at 229-588-0134.