Dr. Mechelle Jungsten, LMFT

Dr. Mechelle Jungsten helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, relationship strain, parenting challenges, grief, and issues like ADHD or trouble sleeping. She blends practical work on thinking patterns with coaching strategies to address career concerns, self-esteem, anger, and major life changes. Dr. Jungsten is a licensed marriage and family therapist and brings 12 years of clinical experience to her work.

Her style is straightforward and goal-oriented. She looks for unhelpful beliefs and habits that keep people stuck. Sessions focus on learning new ways of thinking and small behavioral steps that build better routines and responses. That makes it easier to reduce worry, manage mood, and change habits such as overeating or substance use.

She uses a mix of cognitive behavioral techniques, acceptance and commitment ideas, attachment-focused thinking, emotionally-focused methods, and motivational interviewing. These approaches are used to help people notice patterns, try experiments, and strengthen important relationships. The aim is practical change rather than long lectures about causes.

Her background includes a doctorate in behavioral health and a history in counseling psychology, alongside work as a health and wellness coach. As an LMFT in California, she draws on clinical training and coaching tools to tailor plans to each person's goals. International clients may be seen and sessions are available by video, phone, chat, or messaging.

People who reach out generally start by clarifying one or two goals. From there she helps create short-term steps and longer-term plans to build resilience, improve communication, and recover a sense of direction and purpose.

Therapeutic approaches and how they work online

Dr. Jungsten often uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors. CBT involves setting clear goals, testing new ways of thinking, and practicing small actions that change mood and habits. Acceptance and commitment therapy is another common tool she uses; ACT teaches how to accept difficult feelings while committing to values-driven actions that improve daily life. Attachment-based ideas are used when relationship patterns or early connection issues affect current behavior, helping people understand and change how they relate to others.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. She will collaborate with each person to match methods to their goals and preferences, adjusting plans as progress is made. This shared process helps keep sessions focused on what matters most to the client rather than following a rigid script.

Online therapy is offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation for skill practice and interaction, phone sessions can fit into a lunch break or use less bandwidth, live chat is useful for brief check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, family, and travel commitments.