Works with
- Anger
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Eating disorders
- Coping with life changes
How Karissa works
Practical facts
- Credentials
- LMSW
- Licensed in
- Michigan
- Years in practice
- 7
- Languages
- English
- Session format
- Online, through our partner platform
About Karissa
Karissa Thomas is a licensed master social worker who aims to help people feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or angry. She focuses on listening so people feel understood. Karissa brings a warm, straightforward presence to sessions and often uses practical steps to reduce stress and improve coping.
She works with a wide range of concerns including anxiety, depression, anger, relationship and intimacy struggles, grief, parenting challenges, addiction, ADHD, and trauma. She also supports people facing career shifts, body image issues, chronic illness, and the stress that comes with caring for others.
Background and approach
Karissa’s work includes both short-term goals and longer plans, depending on what each person needs. Her style is nonjudgmental and curious. She treats people as the experts on their own lives and asks direct questions to help identify useful strategies.
Sessions can include skill-building, values-based goals, and techniques for managing intense emotions or improving communication. Karissa combines evidence-informed approaches such as cognitive behavioral work, acceptance and commitment ideas, attachment-focused thinking, dialectical skills, and a client-centered stance. These tools are used flexibly to match what a person says they need.
She is practical, compassionate, and willing to bring some humor into the work when appropriate. Based in Michigan, Karissa has seven years of clinical experience as an LMSW. She offers support in English and is open to working with people in other locations through online formats.
Getting started is a simple process of matching and scheduling a first session.
What Karissa works with
Everything Karissa lists, in the therapist's own terms. Anger is the reason this directory exists; the rest tells you what usually sits alongside it in Karissa's practice.
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Eating disorders
- Coping with life changes
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Depression
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hearing impaired
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Karissa lists
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Gottman Method
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
How therapy approaches translate online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match their values. This approach can be useful for anxiety, depression, and anger when someone wants clearer direction about what matters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is often used for anxiety, sleep issues, and low mood by practicing new ways of thinking and behaving. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns and helps people build safer, more connected ways of relating; it can be helpful for intimacy issues, relationship patterns, and some trauma concerns.Finding the right method is a joint process. The therapist will work with each person to decide which approaches feel like the best fit for their goals and preferences. Plans can change over time as new needs or goals emerge, and the therapist will check in to adapt the work collaboratively.
Online sessions offer flexibility and multiple ways to connect. Video calls let people use face-to-face conversation and screen sharing for exercises. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to use video. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for short check-ins, skill coaching, or when a written check-in fits a tight schedule. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into work, family, or caregiving routines.
Questions people ask about Karissa
What kinds of concerns does Karissa help with?
She supports people facing anxiety, depression, anger, trauma, relationship and intimacy issues, grief, parenting stresses, addictions, ADHD, and many related life challenges.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her approach is nonjudgmental, curious, and direct. She focuses on listening, practical skills, and helping clients set values-based goals.
What experience does she bring to sessions?
Karissa has seven years of clinical practice as a social worker. She combines hands-on experience with a practical, down-to-earth manner.
Where is Karissa licensed and based?
She is a licensed master social worker with a Michigan LMSW and practices out of Michigan.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Karissa does accept international clients.
What formats are available for meetings?
Sessions can be scheduled as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How are sessions paid for and what does it cost?
Costs vary by location and therapist arrangements; sessions are provided through a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with Karissa?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule a session according to the therapist's availability.