COUNSELING IN CEDAR KNOLLS, MONTCLAIR & VIRTUALLY ACROSS NEW JERSEY
You don’t need to be fixed — you need to be understood.
Approachable and compassionate therapy for those who think, care, and feel deeply
You’re probably someone who holds a lot.
You think deeply, feel deeply, and care deeply — sometimes more than you let on. You’re often the one others lean on, the one who notices what’s unspoken, the one who tries to keep things running smoothly. On the outside, you may look capable, composed, even successful. On the inside, things can feel much more complicated.
You might find yourself overthinking conversations long after they end, wondering if you said too much — or not enough. You may struggle to ask for what you need without guilt, or feel responsible for other people’s emotions while ignoring your own. Setting boundaries can feel uncomfortable, even frightening, especially with people you love.
You may notice patterns in your relationships that don’t seem to change, no matter how much insight you have. Maybe you keep ending up in the role of the caretaker, the fixer, or the one who adapts. Maybe you want closeness but don’t quite trust it. Or maybe you feel lonely even when you’re not alone
None of this means something is wrong with you
It means you learned ways to survive, connect, and stay safe — often early in life — and those strategies are still showing up, even if they’re no longer serving you.
Life can look different
I’m Melissa Collins, licensed psychotherapist, fellow deep thinker and feeler, and I’m here to tell you:
I’m here to listen — not judge, not fix, not tell you what you “should” do. I notice both what you say and how you feel, so you can start understanding your patterns and reactions in a deeper way.
I built my practice for people who learned early in life how to survive by being helpful, adaptable, strong, or self-sufficient. The ones who kept the peace at the expense of themselves, to bottle up, ignore, or deny their emotions, and smooth out all the bumps around them - to tune out their inner world and tune into everyone and everything around them.
It’s okay to slow down
Therapy with me is laid-back, conversational, and driven by you. I get what it’s like to feel overburdened by responsibility, empathy, self-awareness, and caring for everyone else. I help people untangle the patterns that leave them exhausted, navigate relationships with more ease, and build a life where they can care for themselves as much as they care for others.
Ready to do something different?
Let’s make it easy:
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Reach out - email, text or contact form
We’ll get to know each other better with a quick hello and a chat about what brought you here and what you’re looking for. I’ll answer any questions you have and we can see if we’re a good fit.
We’ll talk logistics and set up our first session
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We’ll talk cost, see if you have out of network benefits, and determine whether we are going to meet via telehealth or in person in my office in Cedar Knolls
We’ll start with whatever brought you to see me and go from there - I’ll listen, ask a lot of questions, challenge you and support you. You can cry, vent, yell, laugh - whatever you need.
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