Melissa Sonthonax , LMHC

Melissa Sonthonax is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in Florida with ten years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical steps people can use to manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship worries, and struggles with self-esteem. Melissa aims to help clients build everyday habits that support clearer thinking and steadier coping.

Her work blends client-centered care with cognitive behavioral and mindfulness tools. That means sessions often start by understanding what matters most to the person and then testing small changes that reduce distress. Melissa also uses motivational interviewing and narrative techniques to help people clarify values and rewrite stories that hold them back.

She often supports people facing life transitions, career questions, intimacy issues, and challenges with addiction or impulse control. Melissa helps those dealing with abandonment, attachment worries, codependency, guilt, shame, or feelings of emptiness. Practical plans and measurable goals are common parts of her process.

Sessions emphasize clear communication and skills practice. Clients can expect collaborative goal-setting, behavioral experiments, and attention to how thoughts and habits affect mood. Melissa encourages self-compassion while people try new approaches.

Her background includes a Master’s in Psychology and a decade of work with people managing everyday mental health concerns. She practices in Florida and conducts sessions in English. Her style is straightforward, goal-focused, and centered on helping people regain a sense of stability and direction.

Approaches you can use online

Client-centered therapy focuses on the person's goals and values. The therapist listens closely and helps clients find their own solutions, which is useful for building confidence and working through relationship or identity concerns.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It uses simple experiments and skill practice to reduce anxiety, panic, and patterns like avoidance or angry outbursts.

Mindfulness therapy teaches present-moment awareness and simple attention skills. This can help with stress, rumination, social anxiety, and emotional reactivity by creating space to choose responses instead of reacting automatically.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and daily life, then try approaches that fit. That process is collaborative and can change as needs shift.

Online sessions are offered by phone, video call, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into a busy life. Video lets you see nonverbal cues and practice skills in real time. Phone sessions can work well when video is difficult or bandwidth is limited. Chat or text-based messaging can be used for quick check-ins, brief coaching, or when a shorter format fits a schedule. These options help people access consistent support and keep progress moving forward.