About Melody
Dr. Melody Madaris is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) with 14 years of experience. She works directly with people facing addiction, trauma, mood disorders, and other serious emotional struggles.
She speaks plain language and focuses on practical steps people can take to feel more in control. Dr. Madaris has spent much of her career helping people with substance abuse and bipolar disorder.
She also supports those coping with depression, grief, anger, self-esteem struggles, ADHD, and eating concerns.
How Melody works
Her practice addresses a wide range of related issues, including process addictions, post-traumatic stress, panic attacks, and concerns tied to career or life changes. In addition to clinical work, she manages programs at a community mental health center in Illinois. She oversees residential treatment, outpatient co-occurring programs, a 24-hour mobile crisis program, an employee assistance program, and prevention and awareness efforts.
Her administrative role gives her broad experience with systems of care and treatment planning. Her approach blends direct, goal-focused methods with a client-centered way of listening. She uses strategies from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and existential ideas to help people identify values, change unhelpful habits, and tolerate distress while they work toward goals.
Dr. Madaris helps people make realistic plans and stick with them. She aims to build trust and a clear path forward, so clients can take actionable steps toward the life they want.
Melody lists 13 ways of working on the entry:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
What Melody works with
The areas below are the ones Melody selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Addictions
- Trauma and abuse
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- First responder issues
- Grief
- HIV / AIDS
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
Training and background
| Register | LCPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 14 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Illinois |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Using practical approaches online to address difficult problems
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small steps that match those values while learning to live with hard feelings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches skills to change unhelpful patterns and behavior. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening without judgment and shaping the work around the client's goals and pace.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, symptoms, and daily life and then suggest methods that fit. That plan can change over time as needs and priorities shift, and decisions about technique are made collaboratively.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy flexible. Video allows face-to-face conversation for skills practice and emotional work. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or for people who prefer not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for quick check-ins, shorter coaching-style support, or when writing feels more comfortable. These options help people fit therapy around work, caregiving, or travel.
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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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