About Melanie
Melanie Hamilton-Smith helps with stress, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem, depression, and major life changes. She also supports people facing communication problems, divorce and separation, guilt and shame, loneliness, and questions about life purpose, money, sexuality, and post-traumatic stress. Melanie is based in Colorado and brings 23 years of experience to her work as an LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor.
Her approach is warm and open minded. She focuses on understanding what’s happening now rather than assigning blame.
Background and approach
Sessions aim to be practical and solution-focused so people leave with clear next steps they can try between meetings. Melanie uses a mix of rational emotive ideas, cognitive-behavioral strategies, and solution-focused techniques. That means she helps people identify unhelpful thoughts, test new behaviors, and set small achievable goals.
Conversations are straightforward and geared toward real-life changes. She adapts to each person's pace and needs, offering shorter check-ins or deeper weekly work. People who prefer talking, writing, or checking in by message can choose different formats.
Her goal is to help people feel less stuck and more able to manage daily demands. Melanie aims to build a practical plan with each person. She listens for patterns that cause distress and helps replace them with habits that support wellbeing.
Over time the focus shifts from crisis management to sustaining progress and clearer life choices.
Practical approaches for online counseling
Melanie draws on rational emotive ideas and cognitive-behavioral techniques to help people change unhelpful thinking and test new behaviors. Rational emotive ideas focus on spotting rigid or extreme beliefs and trying gentler, more helpful ways of thinking. Cognitive-behavioral strategies break problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions so people can make small experiments and see what helps.She also uses solution-focused techniques that zoom in on what’s already working and build short-term goals. Those methods are useful for managing stress, improving communication, and navigating life changes because they lead to clear, manageable steps. Choosing the best approach is a collaborative process - Melanie will work with each person to figure out which methods fit their goals and preferences.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging suit people who prefer writing, want quick daily check-ins, or need to fit support around a busy schedule. These options make it simpler to keep momentum between sessions and to access care from different places and routines.
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What this counselor works with
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Also listed
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Colorado
- Languages
- English