About Malissa
Malissa Watters is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 23 years of experience in Illinois. She focuses on helping people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, addiction struggles, grief, and depression. She sees therapy as a partnership and aims to support practical steps toward better daily functioning.
She believes people know their own stories best and brings a strengths-based approach to sessions. That means identifying what already helps and building on it.
Background and approach
She encourages small, manageable changes that add up over time. In sessions she mixes concrete tools with attention to the present moment. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are used to spot unhelpful thinking and try new behaviors.
Mindfulness practices can help people slow down and ground themselves when feelings get intense. Solution-Focused Therapy is used to set clear goals and focus on immediate next steps. This can be useful for handling life transitions and career decisions.
The overall aim is to create plans that fit each person’s daily life and responsibilities. Her background includes long-term clinical work across many care settings. That experience informs an adaptable, practical style.
She supports people through losses, chronic health challenges, caregiving stress, and the recovery process from substance concerns. Therapy is offered in English and is available through video calls, phone, live chat, or text messaging. Getting started begins with a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a first session based on therapist availability.
How these approaches guide online therapy
Malissa uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify patterns of thought that feed anxiety or depression and to test small behavior changes. CBT focuses on clear steps you can try between sessions to see what helps in daily life.She also uses Mindfulness Therapy to teach simple techniques for calming the body and noticing thoughts without judgment. Mindfulness can be helpful when strong emotions make it hard to think clearly or act on goals.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. She will discuss goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked in the past. That lets her and the client try one approach and adjust it so it better fits the person’s needs.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more accessible. Video is useful for face-to-face conversation and practicing skills together. Phone sessions are an option when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in works better. Live chat or text messaging can fit around busy schedules and offer brief, ongoing support between longer sessions.
These formats let people continue therapy during life transitions, caregiving duties, or when travel is difficult. The focus is on practical tools and steady progress, delivered in a way that fits each person’s routine.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Life purpose
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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