About Merry
Merry Walensa is a California licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC) with 17 years of experience. She focuses on helping people handle relationship strain, grief, self-esteem struggles, career stress, and major life changes. Merry aims to make starting therapy easier and more approachable for worried parents and individuals.
Merry uses practical, straightforward conversations to help people name their feelings and decide what matters most. She blends approaches like cognitive behavioral techniques, acceptance and commitment ideas, and client-centered listening so each person gets what fits them.
How Merry works
Sessions aim to build clearer thinking, steadier emotions, and small steps toward goals. Her work often includes support for stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and coping with chronic pain or illness. She also addresses intimacy challenges, addictions, codependency, and issues tied to family and communication.
She helps people facing end-of-life concerns, hospice decisions, aging questions, and caregiving strain. Merry describes her approach as inclusive and existential in the sense of exploring meaning and values alongside practical change. She offers a calm, nonjudgmental space where parents and individuals can speak honestly about fears, guilt, or shame.
The goal is to build confidence, improve coping, and restore a sense of direction. New clients begin with a video appointment before switching to phone, live chat, or text-based messaging when appropriate. Sessions are offered in English and operate via a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
Merry lists 11 ways of working on the entry:
What Merry works with
The areas below are the ones Merry selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LPCC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 17 |
| 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 therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying personal values and taking committed action even when uncomfortable feelings arise. It can help people facing life transitions, grief, and low motivation by identifying what matters and building steps toward those values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is often useful for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and stress management. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centers on understanding emotions and improving emotional connection, which can help with intimacy-related issues and communication problems.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and needs, then suggest methods to try. This is collaborative - plans can be adjusted as progress is made and new priorities emerge.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people use visual cues for richer conversations, phone calls can fit into a short break or use less bandwidth, and messaging or live chat support brief check-ins and ongoing processing between sessions. These options make it easier to keep continuity of care while balancing work, parenting, and other commitments.
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.
Book with MerryWe will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.
Common questions
What issues does Merry commonly help with?
What is her general therapy style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her official credentials and location?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What session formats are available?
How does payment and cost work?
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.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. Entries are not assessed or endorsed by this directory.
Other entries for relationship
Supportive LCSW helping people build strength and clarity
Practical, trauma-aware therapy for everyday life
Practical, relational therapy for life transitions