About Melanie
Melanie Fikse is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) in California who focuses on helping adults find relief from stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, and mood disorders. She brings 12 years of experience to sessions and centers therapy on the person in front of her. Her style is warm and down-to-earth while also offering practical skills to manage daily challenges.
Melanie uses a trauma-informed outlook, so she pays attention to how past hurts affect present life.
How Melanie works
She works collaboratively and helps people notice strengths they already have. That can look like learning new ways to cope, practicing helpful thinking patterns, or trying small behavior changes that make a difference. Her background includes a master’s degree from New York University and many years providing therapy in community mental health settings.
She has worked in California for a long time and draws on that breadth of experience when addressing complex concerns such as Bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and addiction issues. Sessions often combine supportive listening with hands-on tools from approaches like cognitive behavioral work and acceptance-based practices. Melanie also brings focused care for trauma-related struggles and grief.
She aims to help people feel seen, build skills, and make steady progress toward clearer goals. People who come for help may be coping with loneliness, codependency, self-harm urges, compassion fatigue, or family problems. Melanie supports exploration of identity and LGBT-related concerns and helps clients move toward greater self-compassion and day-to-day functioning.
Melanie lists 4 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.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Mood disorders
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LPCC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 12 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice painful thoughts without getting stuck in them and focuses on values-driven action. It is often useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches practical skills to change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and is commonly used for anxiety, mood disorders, and some trauma-related symptoms.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with clients about their goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked before. Together they will try methods that match those needs and adjust the plan as progress is made.
Online formats available include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which give flexibility for different situations. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation from wherever the client is, phone sessions can work when bandwidth is limited, live chat fits shorter check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between meetings. These options make it easier to schedule therapy around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping continuity of care.
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Common questions
What concerns does Melanie help with?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
Which languages can sessions be held in?
Can people outside the U.S. work with her?
What session formats are available?
How are costs handled and how do I get started?
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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