About Melissa
Melissa Colton is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with 27 years of experience supporting people through anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. She offers straightforward, compassionate care and focuses on building a strong working relationship. Melissa aims to help people find practical ways forward when they feel stuck.
Her approach centers on the person in front of her. Sessions draw on client-centered methods to follow each person's pace and priorities.
Background and approach
She also uses cognitive behavioral tools to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, and dialectical behavior therapy skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Melissa has a long history of working with mood disorders, addictions, grief, and issues around self-esteem and identity. She helps people manage stress, cope with change, and navigate relationship and intimacy concerns.
She also addresses work and career stress, parenting strain, and compassion fatigue. In sessions she blends practical skill-building with reflective conversation. That can mean practicing new ways to respond to intense feelings, testing small behavior changes between meetings, or naming values and life purpose.
The focus is on steps people can try right away, not on long lectures or jargon. People who choose therapy with Melissa can expect calm, steady support as they explore options and try different tools. She emphasizes collaboration and helps each person set goals that fit their life and values.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Client-centered therapy focuses on following the person's concerns and pace. The therapist listens without judgment and helps people clarify goals and values, which is useful for stress, identity questions, and life purpose work.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches practical techniques to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and social anxiety by introducing experiments and small behavior changes to test new ways of thinking.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, offers skills for managing intense emotions and improving distress tolerance. It includes concrete tools for emotion regulation, mindfulness, and better interpersonal responses, which can help with mood instability and anger.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist collaborates with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That can mean trying CBT exercises for a while, then adding DBT skills or more reflective client-centered sessions as needed.
Online therapy makes these approaches easier to access. Video calls let people practice skills in real time while talking through emotions. Phone sessions can fit into a short break or reduce bandwidth needs. Live chat and text messaging support check-ins, brief coaching, or tracking homework between sessions. These options offer flexibility for scheduling and for how someone prefers to communicate during treatment.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 27 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English