Chelsey Merchant, LCSW

Chelsey Merchant is a licensed clinical social worker who uses clear, practical approaches to help people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy alongside client-centered and mindfulness techniques to make therapy feel straightforward and usable. Chelsey spends sessions listening to each person's story and helping them name patterns that cause pain. She focuses on skills people can try between meetings, like small behavior changes and simple ways to notice thoughts and feelings. This approach can help with body image concerns, eating-related struggles, and mood shifts. She also works with issues tied to relationships and intimacy, including support around LGBT and gender-dysphoria related concerns. Additional areas Chelsey addresses include grief, career stress, compassion fatigue, and recovery from abuse or PTSD. She is open to talking about alternative sexual cultures such as BDSM and kink when clients bring those topics up. Chelsey believes therapy is a collaboration. She centers each person's strengths and goals while offering practical tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and narrative approaches. Sessions aim to be direct, respectful, and paced to each person’s needs. Practically, Chelsey provides care from Utah and works in English. Her five years of experience inform a calm, steady style that emphasizes manageable steps and clearer thinking. If someone is ready to begin, she helps them move from overwhelm to specific next actions.

Approach and accessibility through online therapy

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and following each person's pace. The therapist offers a respectful, nonjudgmental space and helps clients clarify goals and values in simple, direct language.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It teaches concrete techniques to challenge unhelpful thinking and to try small behavior changes that can reduce anxiety, depression, or stress-related problems. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adds skills for managing intense emotions and improving distress tolerance, which can help with mood swings and self-harm urges.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, and will adjust the plan as progress is made.

Online sessions can be done by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls let people use visual cues and fuller conversation. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or when sitting on camera is difficult. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for shorter check-ins, ongoing support between sessions, or when typing feels easier than speaking. These options make scheduling more flexible and allow therapy to fit into busy routines.