About Melanie
Melanie Giarratano is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC, LCMHC) based in New York. She combines education in neuroscience with clinical training to help people manage stress, mood struggles, and life transitions. Her style is direct and supportive, and she focuses on practical steps people can use between sessions.
Melanie studied neuroscience at the University of Delaware and earned a master’s degree in mental health counseling at SUNY College at Old Westbury.
How Melanie works
Early research into stress and post-traumatic responses shaped how she thinks about trauma and fear. That background informs her current work in inpatient psychiatric settings with people who have histories of severe trauma. She offers both group and individual therapy and draws on different approaches to match each person's needs.
Motivational interviewing is used to build momentum toward change, while person-centered methods provide encouragement once someone is ready to work on goals. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps deconstruct the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and is used when clients want concrete homework and practice. Melanie also incorporates dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness strategies to teach emotion regulation and present-moment skills.
She emphasizes self-care and practical coping tools that fit into everyday life. Outside work she practices yoga, rides her bike, and spends time with family and her dog. Her approach is collaborative and goal focused.
She helps people who struggle with anxiety, depression, addictions, parenting challenges, ADHD, relationship issues, trauma and related mood concerns find clearer ways forward.
Melanie lists 7 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
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Family conflicts
- Jealousy
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | LMHC, LCMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 4 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | New York |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approach-focused care delivered online
Melanie uses Client-Centered Therapy to create a respectful, listening-first space where people can clarify goals and feel supported while they change. That approach helps when someone needs encouragement, validation, and steady guidance toward next steps.She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact. CBT offers concrete exercises like thought logs and behavioral experiments that help with anxiety, depression, and habit changes. Dialectical Behavior Therapy is used to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills when strong emotions get in the way of daily life.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Melanie will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and comfort level. She tailors techniques and pacing so the plan fits the client rather than fitting the client to a single method.
Online therapy with video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging makes it easier to fit sessions into a busy life. Video calls allow fuller conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be quicker and use less bandwidth, and live chat or messaging works well for brief check-ins or people who prefer writing. These options offer flexibility for scheduling and for how people like to communicate with a licensed professional.
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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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