- Guilt and shame
- Mindfulness skills
- Career coaching
About Zina
Zina Mercil is an LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado with ten years of clinical practice. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, grief, career challenges, compassion fatigue, and life transitions. Her focus also includes concerns such as guilt and shame, caregiver strain, chronic illness, and end-of-life issues.
Zina uses straightforward conversation and practical exercises to help people notice patterns that increase self-criticism and overwhelm. She draws on mindfulness and DBT skills to teach ways to calm intense emotions and handle moments of shame or guilt. Attachment-based thinking helps her and clients look at how past relationships affect current responses.
Sessions are built around clear goals and small experiments rather than only talking. She uses motivational interviewing to help people clarify values and move toward changes that matter to them. Existential ideas are used when people want to examine meaning, purpose, or life stage questions without quick fixes.
Zina often supports people juggling health setbacks, caregiving responsibilities, career shifts, or retirement planning. She also works with those dealing with fertility, cancer, HIV/AIDS, or chronic pain who need practical coping strategies alongside emotional support.
Her style favors direct feedback, skill practice, and reflective conversation. People who are worn down by guilt, stuck in self-criticism, or unsure how to make a next step may find this approach useful. Sessions are conducted in English from her Colorado practice.
To begin, prospective clients use the site process to complete a short questionnaire and schedule an initial meeting to set goals together.
Approach and how online sessions work
Attachment-based work looks at how early bonds shape current relationships and reactions. In practice this means talking about recurring interaction styles and trying small changes in how you relate to others to reduce shame-driven patterns.Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) focuses on teaching concrete skills for handling intense emotions and improving distress tolerance. These skills are useful for people who feel overwhelmed by guilt or get stuck in cycles of self-criticism. Mindfulness therapy trains simple awareness practices to notice thoughts and feelings without acting on them, which can reduce reactivity when shame flares.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That choice can change over time as progress and new priorities emerge.
Session formats are not specified here, so please confirm the available options before booking. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. Licensed professionals often use these benefits to help people keep consistent work on guilt, shame, and life changes while managing other responsibilities.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
10+ years
Listed in
Colorado
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she work with related to guilt or shame?
She works with adults facing guilt and shame alongside stress, anxiety, grief, caregiving strain, and career questions.
How does she approach feelings of guilt?
She uses mindfulness and DBT skills to help notice and manage intense emotions, combined with conversations about values to guide action.
What is her clinical background and experience?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with ten years of experience working with adults on life transitions and emotional challenges.
Where is she licensed and based?
She holds an LPC credential in Colorado and practices from that state.
In which language are sessions offered?
Sessions are offered in English only.
Can she work with clients outside the United States?
International clients are not currently accepted.
What formats are used for sessions?
Please confirm current session options before booking so you know which formats are available for meetings.
How are fees handled and how do I get started?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time. To begin, complete the short matching questionnaire and schedule a first session via the site button.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.