- Stress and anxiety
- Guilt and shame
- Relationship struggles
About Melissa
Melissa Woodby is a Tennessee licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) with 12 years of clinical experience. She helps people dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related concerns, depression, and issues tied to relationships and parenting. Melissa also works with clients facing substance concerns, ADHD, and struggles with guilt and shame.
She keeps sessions straightforward and focused on what matters to the client. Conversations cover feelings, past events that still affect daily life, and current patterns in relationships. Melissa listens for repeated themes like abandonment, body image worries, or trouble trusting others, and she helps clients name them clearly.
Her approach uses practical, evidence-based techniques to address symptoms and patterns. That can include learning new ways to respond to panic, steps to handle intrusive thoughts, or strategies to rebuild intimacy after betrayal. She guides people toward small changes that feel manageable between sessions.
Melissa pays attention to how family of origin issues, communication breakdowns, and isolation contribute to ongoing shame or self-criticism. She supports clients sorting through difficult events such as divorce, domestic violence, or military-related experiences and their emotional fallout.
Sessions also look at life transitions and career stress, and at how compassion fatigue or caregiving strain can wear people down. People who want coaching-style support for concrete goals can also work with her to set and track those steps.
How evidence-based methods translate to online work
Melissa uses common evidence-based techniques that help people manage intense feelings and change unhelpful patterns. One approach focuses on skills for managing anxiety and panic, teaching step-by-step breathing and grounding strategies and ways to respond when intrusive thoughts arise. Another draws on methods that address trauma and abuse by helping people process difficult memories and reduce their hold on daily behaviors and relationships.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about problems, goals, and preferences, then try methods that fit those needs. Together they review what helps and adjust the plan over time rather than sticking to a single method from the start.
Confirm session formats before booking because the biography does not specify which online options are used. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy schedule, shorten check-ins when needed, or allow communication without commuting. These practical benefits can help therapy be woven into everyday life while the clinician and client focus on the issues that brought them together.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Experience
12+ years
Listed in
Tennessee
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she address?
She works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related issues, depression, and related problems such as addiction, ADHD, and guilt and shame.
How does she approach therapy?
Her style is direct and practical, using evidence-based techniques to help people change patterns, manage panic or intrusive thoughts, and improve relationships.
What is her experience?
Melissa has twelve years of professional experience working with a range of concerns from trauma to parenting and career stress.
What are her credentials and location?
She is a Tennessee LMFT and practices in Tennessee.
Does she work in other languages or with international clients?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not accepting international clients at this time.
What session formats are offered?
Please confirm current session options before booking, as the biography does not list explicit session formats.
How much do sessions cost?
Cost varies by location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I get started?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.