JoAnn Ristau, LPC

JoAnn Ristau is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) licensed in South Carolina with 33 years of experience. She focuses on helping people reclaim clarity and control over their thoughts, emotions, and actions so they can move toward the life they want. Her work begins with careful reflection on where a person is now, an exploration of their personal story, and a clear view of where they want to go. Through that process she encourages shifts in thinking that open the way to new skills and greater self-awareness.

Rather than framing someone as broken or in need of fixing, she affirms each person as an authentic individual with inherent worth and value. Using curiosity, self-compassion, acceptance, courage, and vulnerability, she supports growth and meaningful change. JoAnn applies client-centered therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help people identify practical strategies, reframe unhelpful patterns, and build stronger coping skills.

Her specialties include stress, anxiety, relationship and family concerns, self-esteem, and coping with life changes. Additional focus areas include caregiver stress, communication difficulties, control issues, and cultivating self-love. JoAnn aims to help people recognize how past challenges have strengthened them and to empower them to find relief and greater confidence as they move forward.