About Melissa
Melissa Ardelean is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) in California who helps people facing relationship strain, family conflict, trauma and abuse, intimacy concerns, and major life changes. She offers late afternoon, evening, night, late night, and weekend appointments and works by partnering with clients to set achievable goals.
Melissa uses straightforward, practical language so people feel understood and respected from the first conversation. Her approach blends body-centered work with talk therapy.
Background and approach
She draws on Somatic Therapy to help people notice how stress and trauma show up in the body. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Attachment-Based ideas to clarify values and repair patterns in close relationships. Sessions are collaborative and focused on building useful skills.
Melissa aims to help clients develop tools for emotional regulation, clearer communication, and healthier boundaries. She emphasizes clients' existing strengths and helps them apply those strengths to real-life situations. Melissa has three years of clinical experience as an LPCC.
She has supported people through complex trauma, family-of-origin issues, blended family challenges, and intimacy-related problems. Her work also covers topics such as chronic pain, caregiving stress, body image, and commitment or control concerns. Appointments are offered via telehealth video sessions only.
Sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time, and cost varies with location and therapist availability. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule based on the available times offered.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online sessions
Somatic Therapy focuses on how the body holds stress and trauma and uses breath, movement, and bodily awareness alongside conversation to help people feel more grounded. It can be useful for those who notice tension, pain, or shutdown during stress.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages people to clarify what matters to them and take small, value-driven steps even when difficult feelings appear. It helps with decision points, life transitions, and building consistent habits that match personal values.
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at relational patterns from early experiences and helps people recognize how those patterns affect current relationships. It is often helpful for intimacy issues, communication problems, and repairing trust.
Finding the right combination of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will work together with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, needs, and comfort level. That collaborative planning can be adjusted as therapy progresses.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility for busy schedules. Video sessions let people connect from home during late afternoons, evenings, nights, and weekends. This format can make it easier to keep continuity while balancing work, caregiving, or medical needs. Live conversation by video supports the same therapeutic work as in-person sessions, while also reducing travel time and logistical burden.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Divorce and separation
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English