About Marissa
Marissa Katz Bellani is a licensed mental health counselor who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, and relationship concerns. She works in a straightforward, respectful way and aims to make sessions feel calm and manageable. Marissa brings eight years of experience to her practice and offers online care for people in Hawaii and international clients when appropriate.
She uses practical therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients identify unhelpful thoughts and build actions that match their values.
Background and approach
Client-centered work guides the pace of sessions so people lead the conversation while the therapist reflects and clarifies. Marissa also draws on the Gottman Method for intimacy and relationship concerns when that focus is helpful. Her practice includes additional attention to attachment issues, caregiver stress, chronic illness and pain, and challenges tied to autism and intellectual disability.
Marissa also supports people facing family of origin issues, codependency, isolation, and end-of-life concerns. She describes herself as warm and interactive and meets clients where they are in their lives. Sessions often mix talk work with creative elements when useful, such as music or expressive approaches rooted in her training.
The aim is to find small, usable steps that help people feel steadier. Marissa emphasizes collaboration and helps clients set goals that fit their daily life. People interested in practical tools, steady support, and a gentle, nonjudgmental approach may find her style a good fit.
She works in English and offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging.
Therapeutic approaches you can use online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match what matters most. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with major life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches practical skills to change patterns that cause distress. It often helps with anxiety, mood issues, and problem-solving in day-to-day life.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Marissa will collaborate with clients to choose methods that fit their goals, needs, and preferences. Sessions can shift over time so the plan stays useful as circumstances change.
Online therapy offers a range of formats to fit different needs. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or hands-free time is needed, and live chat or text-based messaging can be used for brief check-ins or when typing is easier. These options make it simpler to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, or health demands, while still focusing on concrete skills and steady progress.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Addictions
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Massachusetts, Hawaii
- Languages
- English