About Melissa
Melissa Thompson is a PACFA counsellor with 14 years of practice in Australia. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief and low self-esteem. Melissa creates a straightforward, non-judgemental space where clients can talk about difficult feelings and consider small steps towards change.
Her approach is practical and grounded. She uses somatic ideas to help clients notice how emotions show up in the body, and mixes those with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and cognitive behavioural techniques to build clearer habits and choices.
Background and approach
Sessions are conversational and paced to each person’s comfort. Melissa often works with people facing trauma, relationship and intimacy problems, addiction and issues around identity. She also supports those coping with major life changes, career stress, sleeping problems and anger.
She pays attention to attachment and communication patterns that keep people stuck. Therapy with Melissa emphasises collaboration. She helps clients set realistic goals, try new ways of responding and track small gains over time.
Progress is measured in practical changes such as calmer reactions, clearer boundaries and better sleep. She speaks English and offers sessions through remote formats. The first steps are simple: complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a session that fits the client’s routine.
Melissa aims to make therapy usable and relevant for everyday life.
How Melissa’s approaches translate to online therapy
Somatic-informed work helps clients notice bodily sensations linked to emotions and tension, then learn simple grounding and movement strategies to ease those feelings. It can be useful for anxiety, trauma-related reactions and stress responses when practised in sessions and between meetings.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on noticing thoughts and values, and taking small behaviour steps that match what matters most. It supports people struggling with avoidance, low motivation and life transitions by building flexible responses rather than trying to eliminate difficult feelings.
Attachment-Based ideas look at how early relationship patterns shape current connections and communication. In online sessions these ideas help clients recognise repeated habits and try new ways of relating that feel safer and clearer.
Choosing an approach is a shared process. The therapist will listen to needs, goals and preferences and suggest a mix of methods to try. Sessions are collaborative and adjusted as progress is seen, so the plan can shift if something isn’t working.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging to suit different schedules and comfort levels. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, parenting and daily routines and let clients practise techniques in the spaces where they live and rest.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does Melissa support?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much experience does she have?
What credentials and location should I know about?
Which languages are supported and can international clients join?
In what formats are sessions available?
How does payment and cost work?
How do I begin therapy?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 14 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English