About Kara
Kara Merriam is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) based in Tennessee. She draws on 14 years of experience helping people who struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar concerns, trauma, and ADHD. She aims to make first steps toward change feel manageable and clear.
Kara works from a strength-focused view. She treats each person as the expert on their own life and helps them notice what already works. Conversations are practical and paced to match each person's comfort and goals.
Background and approach
Her approach centers on support, skill-building, and practical problem solving. Sessions often include talking through current problems, identifying helpful routines, and practicing coping steps that fit daily life. She also assists people dealing with parenting strain and compassion fatigue.
Kara emphasizes small, steady changes rather than quick fixes. She encourages realistic goals and checks progress regularly. People who want to feel more grounded and in control often find this approach useful.
She offers sessions in English and provides several online formats to suit different needs. Getting started involves a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a time that fits the person's calendar. The subscription for sessions can be canceled at any time.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Kara uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques focused on practical skills and real-life application. One common approach emphasizes skill building for emotion regulation and coping - learning clear steps to manage worry, low mood, and stress as they arise. This helps people practice short exercises and routines between sessions.Another approach focuses on identifying strengths and problem solving. It involves looking at daily habits and responsibilities, breaking problems into smaller parts, and testing changes that fit a person's life. That method is useful for coping with life changes, parenting stress, and compassion fatigue.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, try methods, and adjust plans based on what works. Clients and the therapist decide together which techniques best match needs and preferences.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for a full conversation with visual cues, while phone sessions can work when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging make it easier to fit support into a busy day and to get brief coaching between longer sessions.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Bipolar disorder
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
- Experience
- 14 years
- Licensed
- Tennessee
- Languages
- English
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