About Monica
Dr. Monica Kelson is a California psychologist with 33 years of clinical experience. She focuses on helping people who feel overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and work-related strain.
She welcomes honest conversation and aims to make the first step feel manageable for someone who is worried or unsure. She helps people talk through trauma and recovery from abuse using practical, step-by-step methods. She also supports those coping with low self-esteem and motivation by building small, concrete skills that can change daily life.
How Monica works
Career concerns and big life transitions are addressed with realistic planning and problem solving. Her style is straightforward and calm. She aims to create an open space where thoughts and feelings are named without judgment.
Sessions focus on what matters most to the client right now and on habits that can be practiced between meetings. Dr. Kelson uses a mix of approaches based on each person’s needs.
Techniques include looking at how relationships affect mood, changing unhelpful thought patterns, and tools for managing strong emotions. For trauma work she uses an evidence-based method designed to reduce distress linked to past events. If someone is nervous about starting, she encourages taking one small step at a time.
Scheduling begins with a short questionnaire and then arranging sessions that fit the client’s routine.
Monica lists 4 ways of working on the entry:
What Monica works with
The areas below are the ones Monica selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Career difficulties
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Grief
Training and background
| Register | CA Psychologist |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 33 |
| 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
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early and current relationships shape feelings and behavior. It can help people understand patterns that affect self-esteem and reactions to stress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on noticing and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and practical problem solving. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, is a trauma-focused approach that helps reduce the intensity of distress linked to traumatic memories.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will listen to goals and concerns and suggest methods that match a person’s needs and comfort level. Decisions about which tools to use are made collaboratively and reviewed as progress is tracked.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation for deeper processing. Phone calls can be a simpler option when bandwidth or camera use is limited. Live chat and text messaging make it easier to check in between sessions or to fit brief appointments into a busy day. These formats make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into everyday life.
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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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