Joyce Marter has been a licensed psychotherapist for nearly twenty-five years and is the Founder of Urban Balance, an insurance-friendly outpatient mental health company with over 175 therapists working from twelve locations in five states. She is a global keynote speaker and corporate trainer, as well as an internationally published author specializing in self-esteem, empowerment, mindfulness and what she calls “mental wealth”–the connections between mental health and financial health.
Recognized as a mental health thought leader, Joyce Marter is routinely consulted as an expert in the media, featured in such outlets as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Forbes, and MTV. According to Critical Mention, a media monitoring service, Marter’s media reached an audience of over 2 billion people around the world this past year.
Her book, The Financial Mindset Fix: A Mental Fitness Program for an Abundant Life, was published by Sounds True in 2021. For this work, Marter was awarded the Wendell S. Dysinger Award for Outstanding Publication in Counseling by the Illinois Counseling Association. Her book was released in Spanish (Spain and Latin America) in 2022 and will be released in Taiwanese (China) and Korean (Korea) later this year.
With a career that started in addictions, moved into Employee Assistance Program (EAP) work, and then into more than twenty years of private practice, Marter has worked with tens of thousands of therapy and coaching clients, and spoken for more than 500 workplace organizations. She also worked as a Clinical Supervisor for masters-level therapists in training at the The Family Institute at Northwestern University for more than fifteen years and served as an Adjunct Faculty from 2018-2020. She has mentored, hired, and trained well over one hundred therapists over the years.
Her clinical interests are vast, and Marter considers herself a bit of a general mental health practitioner, having worked with clients with a wide range of mental health, substance use, addiction, trauma, and relationship issues. She has especially enjoyed working with clients overcoming addiction and dealing with bipolar disorder, because treatment can not only be life changing, it can be life saving.
A believer that therapists need to do their own work on themselves, Marter has worked hard on her own psycho-spiritual journey towards cultivating an abundant life, which to her includes mental wellbeing, physical health, work-life balance, and financial prosperity. She has applied what she has learned in her clinical training to her own life and found it transformational–personally professionally and financially–and wants to continue to share her learnings with others.
Marter finds her work as a therapist, author, and speaker to be emotionally, relationally, and spiritually rewarding. It is her mission to remove the shame and stigma associated with mental and financial health. She strives to provide inspiration, practical tools, and resources for individuals, couples, and businesses to heal, thrive, and prosper.
Other Online Publications
- PsychologyToday.com
- Psychcentral.com
- Huffpost.com
- Marriage.com
- Yourzenmama.com
- MoneyGeek.com
- Goodmenproject.com
- Spiritualityhealth.com
Professional Affiliations
- American Counseling Association: Served as Chair-Elect, Chair, & Past-Chair of the Midwest Region from
July 2017-July 2020 - Illinois Counseling Association: Served as President Elect-Elect, President-Elect, President, & Past-President from July 2014-July 2019; Robert J. Nejedlo Award for Distinguished Leadership 2020; Distinguished Service as President Award in 2017
- Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association: Served two terms as President from July 2013-July 2015, Vice
- President from July 2012-July 2013, and Membership Chair 2011-2012; Recipient of the Past Presidents Award in 2015
- National Speakers Association
- National Writers Union
Education
- Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, MA, Northwestern University
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Minor in Spanish, BA, The Ohio State University
- 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Accredited Teacher Training in Ashtanga Vinyasa, Mindfulness & Meditation
