Anxiety and depression therapists and psychiatrists in San Mateo, CA

My goal is to help you overcome the challenges you are facing in a safe and comfortable environment to help you improve your quality of life. My passion is helping those with substance use disorders, including alcohol and opioid use disorder, safely detox from the substances and work towards a meaningful and long-lasting recovery. With a decade of experience serving a wide range of patients I am a dual-certified family nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, ADHD, depression, or the weight of past trauma? I work with adults who want to feel more grounded, understood, and confident in navigating their lives. Together, we can make space for what you’ve been carrying, better understand what may be holding you back, and reconnect with your strengths. I offer a warm, affirming, and collaborative space where your story matters and change can happen at a pace that feels right for you.

As a highly compassionate and empathic therapist, I am able to provide the space you need to process on a deeper level to cultivate self-awareness and insight so that you can fully understand yourself, experiences, their implications in your life and world, with development of genuine self-love and self-care. I am passionate about helping others find happiness in themselves, their relationships, their everyday lives, and in their world, and love the work I do.

I know how overwhelming it can feel to search for care that fits your life, especially in the evenings or on weekends when things finally slow down. I work with adults navigating depression, anxiety, and trauma, and I bring a steady, practical mindset from my years in high acuity inpatient psychiatric care to every session. My goal is to help you build coping tools that hold up in real life, not just in the therapy room. I offer evening and weekend appointments so care fits your schedule, not the other way around. I am a Psychiatric NP, and my sessions blend medication management with genuine conversation about what is going on in your life.

Creating boundaries and recognizing the roles we play in our relationships can help to reframe what our emotional needs are. Often our responses and strong feelings or reactions are simply our needs not being met. We do the best we can with the tools we have, and forgiving your former self for tools you didn't have. I like to work with you collaboratively. Thank you for visiting this page in curiosity of seeking therapy, or working out a difficult shift in your life. Here’s a little about me and how I practice therapy: Cultivating your mind to think differently comes with practice.

Melinda Fay is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a specialty in Art Therapy. I received my MA in Psychology from Phillips Graduate Institute in 2002 and I have been licensed since 2008.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure how to move forward, you don't have to figure it out alone.

I help adults work through anxiety, ADHD, depression, and the stress of big life transitions so you can move forward with more clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of direction.

I'm a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with over a decade of clinical experience, and I bring a calm, grounded presence to the work.

My background spans trauma-informed care, support for college students building self-advocacy and success strategies (especially those with learning differences), and extensive work with the military community — including wounded warriors and their families.

Whether you're navigating a career or life change, managing attention or focus challenges, working through anxiety or depression, or facing relationship stress, I offer a safe, collaborative space where real growth is possible.

Clients often describe me as warm, real, non-judgmental, and direct in a supportive way. I'm LGBTQIA+ affirming and welcome people from all backgrounds with a spirit of inclusion and care.

Life can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re juggling high expectations, major transitions, or the constant pressure to show up perfectly in every role you play.

I specialize in supporting teenagers, young professionals, and adults who struggle with perfectionism, people-pleasing, anxiety, stress, relationship challenges, and navigating life’s many changes.