Meet Marty Schwebel, LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist | California and Texas
I think about life as a road.
Some days are smooth and easy. You know where you’re going, the weather is good, and the drive feels effortless. And then, sometimes without warning, you hit a pothole. Or a detour. Or a stretch of road so unfamiliar you’re not sure you’re headed in the right direction anymore.
My work is helping people find new roads forward, through depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship struggles, and the seasons of life that leave you wondering how you got here and where you go next.
I believe that even in the middle of real pain, new roads are possible. I’ve seen it too many times to doubt it.
A Path That Didn’t Follow the Expected Route
My path to becoming a therapist was not a straight line.
I grew up in Texas, shaped by parents and grandparents who believed deeply in faith, hard work, and showing up for other people. After earning a degree in Political Science, I followed something I couldn’t quite explain at the time and headed to Seattle, then New York City, to study music. Along the way I lived overseas, where I met the woman who would become my best friend and wife of more than 30 years.
I earned a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Opera. Then came a season in IT support, followed by fifteen years in pastoral care. By the time I earned my Master of Counseling in 2015 and became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in 2017, the road finally made sense in a way it hadn’t before.
I tell you all of this because I think it matters that the person sitting across from you has actually lived, has taken unexpected roads, and has come through it with something real to offer.
Three Decades of Showing Up for People
Pastoral care opened the door. What came next deepened everything.
I served as a pastoral counselor in San Francisco before joining Mercy Ships in West Africa as a chaplain and counselor aboard the world’s largest nonprofit hospital ship. Supporting patients, staff, and crew navigating trauma, loss, and the psychological demands of humanitarian work far from home gave me a firsthand understanding of what it costs to give yourself to others in high-stress, cross-cultural environments, and what it takes to come back from that.
Back home I worked with at-risk youth and their families, served as a Public Safety and First Responder Chaplain helping first responders process trauma and loss, while moving into full-time private practice helping individuals and couples navigate some of the most difficult seasons a human life can hold.
Thirty years in, I’m still deeply moved by this work. That hasn’t changed.
My Clinical Approach
I work with people of all ages, faiths, beliefs, and backgrounds with an open and genuinely nonjudgmental orientation. Please come as you are. I mean that.
My approach is compassionate, practical, and tailored to you. I’m not interested in fitting you into a predetermined framework. I’m interested in understanding your specific situation, your history, your goals, and what’s actually keeping you stuck, and then working with you to address it at that level.
Depending on what you’re working through, I draw on:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) I am EMDR Certified through EMDRIA, with more than a decade of specialized training and supervised practice in this approach. For trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and patterns that haven’t shifted through talk therapy alone, EMDR can reach what conversation alone often cannot.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the Gottman Method For couples work, I draw on two of the most thoroughly researched approaches in the field, helping partners understand the emotional cycles keeping them stuck and build the kind of secure connection that makes lasting change possible.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) A practical, evidence-based approach for anxiety, depression, and the thought patterns that keep people locked in cycles they’d rather break.
Insight-Oriented and Experiential Approaches Sometimes the most important work is understanding the deeper story beneath what’s happening right now. Connecting the dots between your history and your present is often where real transformation begins.
I also use research-backed assessment tools including SYMBIS and Prepare-Enrich for premarital counseling, and the Gottman Relationship Checkup for couples work.
Faith, Life, and the Whole Person
Faith has been part of my story from the beginning. Growing up in Texas, faith was woven into the fabric of family life, not as a set of rules but as a way of seeing the world and other people. That foundation has shaped who I am and how I show up in this work.
I am not a faith-based therapist in the sense that every session is filtered through a religious lens. But I am someone who understands faith, who respects its place in people’s lives, and who can work comfortably with clients for whom spirituality is a meaningful part of who they are.
I am equally at home with clients for whom faith plays no role at all. What matters to me is you, your story, and what you need. The rest follows from there.
A Little More About Me
I have been married to my best friend for more than 30 years. I am a grateful father and grandfather. I still love music. I know what it’s like to take an unexpected road and find that it led somewhere meaningful.
I bring all of that into this work, not as a therapist who has everything figured out, but as someone who has lived enough to know that healing is possible, that people are more resilient than they realize, and that the right support at the right time can genuinely change the trajectory of a life.
I would be honored to be part of that for you.
Credentials and Training
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, California and Texas (licensed 2017)
- Master of Counseling (2015)
- EMDR Certified through EMDRIA
- Trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy training
- SYMBIS and Prepare-Enrich certified facilitator
- Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Opera
- Bachelor of Science in Political Science
- 30 years of clinical, pastoral, and chaplaincy experience
Ways to Work With Me
Individual Therapy Online throughout California and Texas, or in person in Petaluma, CA. [Learn more about Individual Therapy →]
Couples Therapy and Premarital Counseling Online throughout California and Texas, or in person in Petaluma, CA. [Learn more about Couples Therapy →] [Learn more about Premarital Counseling →]
Therapy Intensives Concentrated therapeutic work in a 3-hour, 6-hour, or 2-day format. [Learn more about Therapy Intensives →]
Weekend Therapy Retreats Private Friday through Sunday retreats at Wildwood Ranch in Garden Valley, California. [Learn more about Weekend Retreats →]
Seminars and Workshops Faith-integrated and community mental health seminars for churches and organizations throughout California. [Learn more about Seminars and Workshops →]
Ready to Take the First Step?
If something on this page resonated with you, I’d love to connect. The first step is a free, no-pressure consultation call where we can talk about what you’re navigating and whether working together might be the right fit.
There’s no commitment required. Just a conversation.