About Melissa
Melissa Strauss is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 13 years of practice. She helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and grief. She also supports those navigating relationship struggles, identity questions, eating and sleeping concerns, and the challenges of parenting and career change.
Her style is warm and engaged. She listens first and then offers practical steps people can try between sessions. Sessions are collaborative so clients keep a say in pacing and focus.
How Melissa works
Melissa emphasizes individual strengths and builds on what already works for each person. Melissa uses straightforward tools from cognitive behavioral approaches to notice unhelpful thinking patterns. She blends this with attachment-based work to look at how relationships and early experiences affect current connections.
Emotion-focused techniques help with strong feelings and closeness issues. Clients may also work on practical life skills like sleep routines, eating-related choices, anger management, and planning for career or parenting changes. She adapts methods to fit each person's goals and comfort level rather than following a single formula.
Melissa holds LPC credentials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She offers sessions in English and welcomes people who live outside the United States. To start, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule sessions based on availability.
Melissa lists 11 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.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
Training and background
| Register | LPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 13 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Pennsylvania |
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 work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and choose values-based actions. It is practical for stress, anxiety, and coping with life changes because it focuses on what matters and small steps toward it. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and teaches concrete skills for managing anxiety, depression, and sleep or eating issues. Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early relationship patterns shape current connections and can help with intimacy, communication problems, and family of origin concerns.Choosing the right approach is part of therapy. Melissa will work with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That process is collaborative and can change over time as progress is made or new issues arise.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when deeper interaction helps. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for ongoing coaching, brief updates, or when typing feels more comfortable. These options add flexibility for scheduling, continuity during life transitions, and multiple ways to practice skills between sessions.
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Common questions
What concerns does Melissa address?
How would she describe her therapy style?
What is her professional background?
Where is she licensed and located?
Can I work with her if I live outside the United States?
What session formats are available?
How much do sessions cost?
How do I begin working with her?
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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