About Melanie
Melanie Barefield uses relationship-focused therapy to help people handle stress, trauma, and family conflict. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practicing in Georgia. Melanie draws on eight years of clinical work to guide conversations and practical steps for change.
She helps people name what matters to them and sets small, clear goals they can try between sessions. Common concerns she addresses include anxiety, depression, grief, parenting strain, anger, and the effects of past abuse or trauma.
How Melanie works
She also supports people managing bipolar symptoms, ADHD challenges, and compassion fatigue from caregiving roles. Melanie blends approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Attachment-Based work, Motivational Interviewing, and Trauma-Focused techniques. That mix lets her tailor sessions to a person’s needs, focusing on skills, values, and relationships rather than jargon.
Sessions often include straightforward coping tools and steps to improve communication at home. Her background includes work in residential treatment centers, in-home counseling, church-based programs, and hospitals. That variety shaped a practical style aimed at real-life problems like blended family issues, family of origin concerns, infidelity, and multicultural stressors.
She also addresses postpartum depression, self-harm signals, and effects of prejudice and discrimination. Getting started involves a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a first session. Melanie offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text messaging to fit different routines and needs.
Melanie lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Melanie works with
The areas below are the ones Melanie selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | LPC, LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 8 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Georgia |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How Melanie’s Approaches Work Online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small steps toward those values while learning to live with difficult thoughts. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on practical skills to change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, which can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve daily functioning. Trauma-Focused Therapy concentrates on processing and reducing the impact of past traumatic events through careful, paced work that builds safety and coping skills.Choosing the right approach is something the therapist and client work on together. Melanie will listen to your goals, try out techniques, and adjust the plan based on what helps. That collaborative process means methods can shift as needs and preferences become clearer.
Online sessions can be scheduled as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to match different routines. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and nonverbal cues. Phone sessions take less bandwidth and can fit a break at work. Live chat or messaging offers brief check-ins or ongoing support between full sessions. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into busy lives.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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