About Melissa
Melissa Lehrich is a licensed clinical social worker with 25 years of experience. She uses approachable talk and practical tools to help people who are feeling overwhelmed or stuck. Melissa focuses on stress, anxiety, relationship and intimacy concerns, trauma and abuse, and mood difficulties like depression.
She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy to teach coping skills and shift unhelpful thinking. Melissa also offers Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for people coping with post-traumatic stress and intense memories.
How Melissa works
Sessions are shaped around what each person needs and how they prefer to work. Many people come to her with sleep problems, panic attacks, anger, or low self-esteem. She also supports those facing career transitions, life purpose questions, and the strain of parenting.
Melissa addresses communication problems, control issues, guilt and shame, and the long shadows of grief and hospice-related concerns. Her style is steady and respectful. She listens first, then helps set small, doable goals.
Conversations are practical and focused on skills you can use between sessions. Melissa works with English-speaking clients in California and accepts international clients. She offers a range of online session formats to fit different schedules and preferences.
Melissa lists 3 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
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 25 |
| 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 Melissa's Approaches Work Online
Melissa commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT sessions often include practicing specific skills and setting small homework tasks to reduce anxiety, improve sleep, or change patterns that cause distress.She also employs Dialectical Behavior Therapy to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication. DBT techniques can be helpful for intense mood swings, anger, and relationship conflicts by offering concrete tools to manage strong feelings.
EMDR is another option Melissa offers for people dealing with traumatic memories and post-traumatic stress. In EMDR sessions she guides clients through structured processing to reduce the emotional charge of painful memories and make them easier to live with.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and symptoms and recommend methods that fit each person's situation. Sessions can mix approaches and evolve over time based on what helps most.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet. Video calls let people work face-to-face from different locations. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in fits better. Live chat and text messaging allow frequent, brief touchpoints for skill practice and support between longer sessions.
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Common questions
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How much clinical experience does she have?
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How are sessions paid for and what does it 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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