Find a therapist in Virginia — covered by insurance

With over 25 years of experience as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I specialize in supporting individuals navigating grief and loss, life transitions, chronic illness, trauma (including first responders), aging-related concerns, and members of the agricultural and farming communities.

I provide telehealth services across multiple states, I’m here to support you on your journey toward healing and growth.

I have had the opportunity and blessing to work with individuals from all dynamic backgrounds and in those endeavors have acquired a great appreciation and respect for what each individual struggle with. It is my hope and responsibility to get them through this

Are you experiencing depression, anxiety, addiction, or relationship issues? Are you looking for a safe and judgement-free environment where you can share your problems and concerns? If so, then let’s get to work!!! Life is too short to surrender to toxic relationships, let trauma consume you, continue to be anxious or be depressed. You deserve to live a life full of peace and joy. Let’s work together to help you develop healthy coping skills and find meaningful purpose in your family, friendships, work, spirituality, and all other life areas.

My specialty includes working with adolescents, adults, couples and family units. I help motivate them with evidenced based interventions. This helps to improve their overall emotional health, relationships and walk in purpose. My specialty also includes treating those who struggle with depression, anxiety and trauma as a result of abuse, neglect & loss.

I appreciate and honor diversity in all aspects and love working with clients from all sorts of backgrounds, including those who are not religious/spiritual. However, I'm open to applying biblical principles in therapy by request.

Are you finding it challenging to fully enjoy life or feeling a bit overwhelmed as you work toward the life you truly desire? Have you experienced painful events in the past or recently? Whether it’s you or a loved one going through ongoing struggles, please know that you are not alone, and I am here to offer my support and compassion.

You might be someone who feels things deeply whether that shows up in your creativity, your work, your relationships, or the way you move through the world. On the outside, you may look like you’re managing, but internally it can feel like anxiety, overwhelm, or past experiences are always just under the surface.

• I work especially well with creatives—artists, musicians, actors—as well as individuals navigating nontraditional paths, including sex work. These spaces often come with unique pressures, emotional intensity, and a need for a therapist who is genuinely nonjudgmental and understands nuance.

If you’ve ever felt misunderstood, “too much,” or like traditional therapy hasn’t quite fit, you’re not alone and you don’t have to navigate that on your own.

I am here for you.

I specialize in working with interpersonal conflict, behavioral issues, anxiety, life cycle transitions, depression, and helping clients recognize and build on strengths to overcome challenges.

I received my bachelor's from James Madison University and a Master of Arts from Lesley University in Expressive Therapy.

You’ve spent a lifetime caring for everyone else. My job is to help you finally exhale.

I’m Melissa Lou Koerner, LCSW — a therapist with 20+ years of experience helping people navigate the messy, meaningful, and often hilarious business of being human. I’m a generalist at heart, which means you don’t have to fit into a diagnostic box to work with me. If it’s part of your story, it’s welcome in the room.

Over the years I’ve supported adults, couples, families, caregivers, Veterans, adoptive families, and folks moving through grief, trauma, identity shifts, and major life transitions. From school hallways to hospice rooms to VA clinics to private practice, I’ve learned one thing over and over: people are far more resilient than they realize.

My style is warm, grounded, and practical. I blend trauma‐informed care, attachment work, and evidence‐based approaches with a healthy dose of humor — because sometimes the only way through a hard moment is to laugh at how absurd life can be.

And while I’m a true generalist, I’ll admit my favorite work these days is helping adults untangle enmeshment, estrangement, and parentification. There’s something powerful about watching people reclaim space in their own lives after years of carrying roles that were never theirs to begin with.

If you’re looking for a therapist who can help you untangle what’s heavy, honor what’s hopeful, and

I have been leveling up my approach to psychotherapy for the span of my career, most recently completing training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). This is now the primary approach of my practice. My career began nearly 15 years ago with victim advocacy, working with survivors of sexual violence, first as a volunteer then graduating to counselor as my education progressed. I also gained a great deal of experience in crisis response and substance use treatment from working in residential/inpatient facilities with adolescents and adults. A great deal of my clinical experience has been in practice of Dialectical Behavior and Cognitive Behavior Therapies, which continue to be solid supports for my work in EMDR with clients.