About Melissa
Melissa Stokes helps people facing anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship and parenting strains, eating or sleeping difficulties, ADHD and mood conditions such as bipolar. She also supports those managing life changes, career stress, low self-esteem and challenges linked to identity and sexual orientation. Melissa is named up front to make it clear who will meet you.
Melissa brings 25 years of clinical experience in Australia and holds AASW and AHPRA credentials.
How Melissa works
She has worked across many settings including community mental health, hospitals, sexual assault services, youth justice and both public and independent practice. That variety means she has seen a wide range of problems and responses to therapy. Her approach is practical and collaborative.
Sessions focus on learning skills, building understanding and trying small changes between meetings. She mixes person-centred listening with evidence-based methods so plans are tailored to each person’s needs. Melissa draws on therapies such as cognitive behavioural techniques, acceptance and commitment ideas, attachment-based work and elements from dialectical behaviour approaches.
She uses psychoeducation and skills training to reduce distress and increase wellbeing. She is inclusive of all genders, cultures and sexual identities and aims to create a respectful space where people feel heard and validated. Melissa also supervises students and clinicians, and continues professional development and research work alongside clinical practice.
Outside work she enjoys hiking, foraging, music, board games, cooking, yoga and gardens, and often spends time with her dogs and friends.
Melissa lists 14 ways of working on the entry:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
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
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trichotillomania
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | AASW, AHPRA |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 25 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Australia |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting ruled by them, and then clarify what matters so they can take values-based action. It is often useful for anxiety, depression and life changes. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and behaviour patterns and practising practical changes to reduce symptoms and improve daily routines. It suits problems like anxiety, low mood, sleep and eating difficulties. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns shape current connection and emotion. It can help with trust, relationship concerns and patterns such as codependency or abandonment worries.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. Melissa will discuss goals and preferences and together decide which methods to try. Sessions are collaborative - you review what works and adjust the plan as you go.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions are good when bandwidth or a shorter check-in is needed, and live chat or text-based messaging can suit quick updates, reflection between sessions or people who prefer writing. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, study, family life and mobility constraints while keeping the focus on practical skills and emotional support.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
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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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