About Melissa
Melissa Geiger-Dugandzic is a licensed independent social worker (LISW) in Ohio with eight years of clinical experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress and anxiety, cope with addictions, and build confidence. She aims to treat each person with respect and compassion while tailoring conversations to what they need most.
Her approach starts by listening. She asks questions to understand what feels hard right now and what a better life would look like.
Background and approach
Together with the person she sets small, realistic goals and checks progress regularly. Melissa draws on practical tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. She also uses client-centered techniques that let the person lead the conversation while she offers guidance and support.
Mindfulness practices are introduced when helpful to reduce overwhelm and improve focus. For people who carry trauma, she offers approaches such as EMDR and DBT-informed strategies to address intense emotions and distressing memories. She has experience supporting first responders, veterans, and adults dealing with gambling and substance concerns.
Sessions aim to be collaborative and paced to each person’s comfort. Melissa helps people work through issues like grief, anger, bipolar mood symptoms, obsessive thoughts, codependency, and struggles with self-worth. The goal is to increase coping skills and make daily life feel more manageable.
How Melissa blends therapy approaches online
Client-centered therapy prioritizes the person’s goals and puts their perspective first. In online sessions this means conversations are guided by what the person wants to address, with the therapist offering reflection and practical suggestions. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce anxiety and improve mood. It often includes simple exercises and between-session practices that translate well to video or messaging formats.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Melissa collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their needs and preferences. She checks in as progress is made and adjusts tools and pacing so therapy stays useful and manageable.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is helpful for full sessions and visual cues, phone calls can work when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed, and messaging lets people share updates or use brief coaching between longer sessions. These formats make scheduling more flexible and can help therapy fit into busy days.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Codependency
- Control issues
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Ohio
- Languages
- English
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