About Mary
Mary Messerschmidt, LCSW, helps people facing anxiety, depression, stress, ADHD, addiction, grief, and relationship or intimacy concerns. She brings 25 years of clinical experience and a direct, compassionate manner to sessions. Her approach centers on practical support and steady guidance rather than labels.
Mary uses short, clear conversations to help people sort priorities and manage daily struggles. Sessions focus on realistic steps for coping with strong emotions, improving relationships, and building confidence.
Background and approach
She also offers life coaching techniques when clients want skills for next steps in work or personal goals. Her style combines several evidence-informed methods. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to identify unhelpful thinking and try different behaviors.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills are taught for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people name values and take committed action despite difficult feelings. Mary respects each person’s background and tailors work to what matters most to them.
She pays attention to attachment and trauma history when those issues are present. Sessions are straightforward and practical, with room for emotion and reflection. Based in Virginia, she offers phone, video, live chat, and text-based messaging sessions.
People looking for support around parenting, career stress, LGBT concerns, or caregiver strain will find focused, experience-based guidance. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a session based on therapist availability.
Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit your life
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting trapped by them, then take small steps that match their values. It can be useful for stress, anxiety, and life transitions where choices matter more than feeling perfect.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to change how someone feels. It is practical and task-oriented, often used for anxiety, depression, and coping with everyday problems.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. Mary will collaborate with each person to decide which methods match their goals, needs, and preferences. This is a team effort where the client’s priorities guide which skills and strategies are emphasized.
Online sessions offer a lot of flexibility for busy lives. Video calls let people use face-to-face conversation when visual cues matter, while phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a short break. Live chat or text-based messaging are useful for quick check-ins, ongoing coaching notes, or when writing helps clarify thoughts. These formats make it easier to keep momentum and practice skills between sessions.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Intimacy-related issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Postpartum depression
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Virginia
- Languages
- English
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