Derrick Martinez, LLMSW

About Derrick Martinez

My purpose is to provide compassionate, quality mental health services to you. Therapy can be challenging but it should bring about helpful improvements. I am passionate about supporting and witnessing the positive impact and progress throughout your journey. Seeing you express happiness and overcome challenges brings me a lot of professional satisfaction.

I earned my Bachelor’s of Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and my Master’s of Social Work from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. I have five years of experience providing behavioral and mental health services to racial and ethnic youth, adolescents, and young adults in school and community mental health settings. With a proven track record of helping adolescents and adults overcome personal obstacles, I am confident that I can positively impact your mental health and well-being.

I strive to provide a comfortable, safe environment where you feel free to express yourself, understand what holds you back and causes distress, and take the steps necessary to move forward. You will find that I am an approachable, dependable, and empathetic therapist. l practice innovative and creative clinical social work practices through a strength-based, person-centered, and multi-lensed approach using a variety of evidence-based treatments, including exposure therapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), somatic interventions, and
mindfulness practices. I am skilled at exposure therapy and will guide you to gradually over time develop skills to confront and overcome painful anxiety, depression, fear, loss & grief, life transitions, trauma, and identity issues.

Unique Approach to Therapy

What makes my approach unique? I am regularly asking for feedback from my patients. How is the treatment going? Are we addressing issues you care about? Do you feel you are making measurable progress? At Start My Wellness, we help people actively engage in making therapy as useful and user friendly as possible. We use this feedback to improve treatment methods, guide therapist training and improve overall customer satisfaction. We believe this patient-centered approach makes Start My Wellness world-class.

Specialized & Extended Training

What makes Derrick Martinez stand out is his high level of education and experience. He, along with all Start My Wellness therapists, attends at least 120 hours of extensive ongoing training and personal development per year in treating anxiety, depression, work stress, and relationship problems. This rigorous instruction differentiates Derrick from others in the field and allows him to provide the highest quality of service to patients.