Angela Johnson, MA, LPC-A
Identity & Life Transitions | Relationships | Blended Families | Grief & Loss
I work with women in Plano, Texas who are moving through divorce, blended family life, infertility, and the identity shifts that tend to arrive in midlife.
We all carry seasons of transition.
Most of the women who come to see me are the ones everyone else leans on. They run the households, the teams, the families, the calendars. They are competent in a way that has become invisible to the people around them, because they have never given anyone a reason to worry. And somewhere underneath all of that capability, something has gone quiet, or come loose, and they have not had anywhere to say so.
I came to this work later than I planned and by a longer road. I taught high school English and chaired a department. I spent years as the chief operating officer of a creative agency, sitting across the table from CEOs while we worked out strategy and growth. For more than two decades I led inside boards and community organizations. I also raised four children in a blended family, went through a divorce, and rebuilt a life that looked nothing like the one I had planned. The competence I was known for professionally did very little for me in the hardest stretches of that. The distance between being good at handling things and actually moving through them is most of what I understand now.
I completed my Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and I am now a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate at The Montfort Group, practicing under the supervision of Cory Montfort, LPC-S. I am also the practice's first Montfort Fellow. I came into this work with clinical training and with a long history of sitting with people through high-stakes decisions and private reckonings. I also came in knowing, from my own life, what it costs to begin again when you are the person everyone assumes is fine.
When you tell me what is actually going on, I am not going to hurry you toward feeling better. Many of the women I see have already been handed the reassurance, the books, the advice from people who love them, and none of it has touched the real thing. So we slow down and stay with the part that is harder to say out loud. The resentment sitting underneath the grief. The relief hiding inside the loss. The version of yourself you are quietly afraid you have become.
I ask direct questions and I tell you what I notice, including the things you might be working around. My training draws on cognitive behavioral and solution-focused approaches and I use them, though the tools matter less than whether you feel met by someone who is paying close attention and is not unsettled by what you bring.
Areas of Focus
The specifics differ, but the women I work with are usually somewhere in the middle of a life reorganizing itself around them.
Whatever the season, I believe these tender moments carry not only pain but also the possibility of growth, resilience, and rediscovery. My role is to walk alongside clients with empathy and care, offering steady support and hope for what lies ahead.
Angela
- Identity and the loss of a familiar self, particularly in midlife
- Divorce, and the long work of co-parenting that follows it
- Blended family dynamics, including the roles that never quite settle
- Infertility and reproductive grief
- Infidelity, and the slow question of whether to stay
- Grief after the end of a relationship that defined a chapter
Professional Background
and Accreditation
I hold a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of North Texas, where I also completed graduate coursework in Gifted Education, and a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. My working life began in education, teaching high school English and serving as a department chair. I later moved into executive leadership as chief operating officer of a boutique creative agency, working alongside CEOs and leadership teams on strategy, communication, and growth. I have spent more than twenty years in community leadership through PTA boards, booster organizations, and philanthropic work, including six years with the National Charity League. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, supervised by Cory Montfort, MS, LPC-S.
Dr. Angela Martilik, Licensed Professional Counselor, PhD, LPC-S
“Angela is a caring and thoughtful counselor. Her ability to connect with clients and put them at ease allows for a connection between client and counselor that facilitates the therapeutic process.”
Dr. Eleanor Womack, MD, Integrative Functional Physician in Age Management Practice at Westlake Medical Arts
“Angela has walked through her own struggles and healing, which gives her a rare depth of compassion and wisdom. She has a gift for making people feel safe, truly seen, and supported. With her kindness, honesty, and uplifting sense of humor, Angela brings both warmth and hope to those around her. I believe she will be an exceptional therapist who helps others grow with authenticity and care.”
