Melissa Ardelean, LPCC

Melissa Ardelean is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) in California who supports people facing relationship strain, family conflict, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related concerns, and midlife transitions. She offers late afternoon, evening, night, late night, and weekend sessions, and asks people to contact her if they need hours not shown on the schedule. Melissa presents a direct and open style and aims to meet clients where they are.

Her approach combines practical skills with attention to each person’s life story. She draws from cognitive behavioral methods to address unhelpful thinking and uses acceptance and commitment ideas to clarify values and next steps. Attachment-focused work helps when relational patterns and abandonment wounds are shaping current struggles.

Melissa partners with people to build tools they can use outside of sessions. She emphasizes skill-building for communication, emotion regulation, and navigating life changes like separation or caregiver stress. Sessions are collaborative and paced to individual needs.

She has three years of clinical experience and has worked with teens, young adults, and adults on complex trauma, immigrant family dynamics, blended family issues, and intimacy concerns. She also supports people dealing with chronic illness, body image, and commitment questions.

All sessions are offered by telehealth video only; text or chat therapy is not provided. Melissa uses evidence-based approaches and encourages people to rely on their strengths as they work toward more ease and joy in everyday life.

How Melissa’s approaches translate to online therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people identify what matters most and take small steps toward those values. Online ACT work often focuses on short exercises, practical homework, and noticing what gets in the way of chosen actions.

Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current connections. In video sessions this can mean talking through relationship histories, practicing new interaction skills, and spotting recurring patterns that cause pain.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Melissa will collaborate with each person to choose which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That process can involve trying techniques from different approaches and adjusting as progress is made.

All sessions are provided by telehealth video only, so confirm session options before booking if you need a different format. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, allow for evening and weekend appointments, and reduce travel time. They also let people use shorter check-ins or keep cameras off when the focus is on breathing or mindfulness exercises.