About Melissa
Melissa Colton uses a person-centered approach that puts the relationship first. She combines client-centered methods with practical skills to help people manage stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and trauma. Melissa is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC, with 27 years of experience in the field.
She helps people dealing with depression, bipolar mood issues, addictions, and grief. Parents who are worn out by parenting strain can get support for coping and for rebuilding energy.
How Melissa works
She also works with concerns around self-esteem, intimacy-related issues, anger, and career transitions. Melissa draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thinking patterns. She uses dialectical behavior ideas for emotion regulation and mindfulness practices to build present-moment awareness.
These approaches are taught in simple, concrete ways so people can try them between sessions. Her background includes long experience providing telehealth mental health services in Florida. Melissa frames therapy as a collaborative process where the client’s goals guide the work.
She emphasizes practical steps and small changes that add up over time. Sessions aim to identify what keeps someone stuck and to strengthen the skills needed to move forward. Melissa often focuses on helping people reconnect with their sense of purpose and manage compassion fatigue.
The goal is steady progress toward a more livable daily life.
Melissa lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Melissa works with
The areas below are the ones Melissa selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Social anxiety and phobia
Training and background
| Register | LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 27 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Florida |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and building a strong therapeutic relationship, helping people feel heard and supported while they set their own goals. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, teaches concrete tools to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, which people can practice between sessions. Dialectical behavior therapy, DBT, emphasizes emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills that are easy to learn through video or phone sessions.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Melissa will collaborate with each person to identify which methods fit their needs, goals, and personal style. That collaborative process helps shape a plan that feels doable and focused on real-life changes.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for teaching skills and practicing techniques. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when a client prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, skill coaching between sessions, and flexible communication during busy days. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, and day-to-day life.
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Common questions
What kinds of concerns does Melissa address?
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Can sessions be conducted in other languages or from outside the U.S.?
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What are the steps to begin therapy?
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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