About Merle
Merle Montalvo is a licensed clinical social worker with 23 years of experience helping people manage stress and anxiety. She approaches difficult life moments with a calm, practical style and focuses on clear steps people can try between sessions. She understands big life shifts because she made a career change in midlife herself.
That experience shaped how she talks about change - honest, hopeful, and down to earth. She sees each person as unique while paying attention to common human struggles.
Background and approach
Her background includes work in outpatient and inpatient settings, intensive outpatient programs, home health, and hospice care in Mississippi. Those roles exposed her to grief, end-of-life issues, trauma, mood disorders, and caregiving stress, among other concerns. In sessions she mixes approaches to match what a person needs.
Cognitive behavioral strategies help with thoughts and behavior patterns that feed anxiety or low mood. Mindfulness practices teach simple ways to slow down and notice what is happening in the moment. She also draws on solution-focused and insight-oriented ideas to set small goals and learn from life stories.
Merle says therapy is a partnership. She helps people set realistic goals, track progress, and adjust the plan when life shifts again. She offers video, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging formats so people can choose what fits their routine and energy level.
She holds a Master of Science and is licensed as an LCSW in Mississippi.
Approaches for online anxiety and life transitions
Merle commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness therapy in online sessions. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying thoughts and behaviors that keep anxiety and low mood going and then practicing small changes to alter those patterns. Mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention and breathing skills to manage stress and stay present during difficult moments.She treats finding the right approach as a team effort. The therapist will talk through goals and preferences and try strategies together to see what fits. Plans are adjusted over time based on progress and changing needs so the work feels practical and personalized.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make participation more flexible. Video calls are useful for deeper conversations and visual connection. Phone sessions can work when bandwidth is limited or a quick check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging allow brief updates and ongoing support between longer sessions. These options help people fit therapy into busy days and different routines while using the therapeutic tools described above.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Grief
- Anger management
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Mississippi
- Languages
- English
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