About Carleen
Carleen Riley-Mercado is a licensed social worker who helps people facing anxiety, depression, stress, addiction, and parenting challenges. She brings ten years of clinical experience and aims to create a respectful space for people from diverse backgrounds. Her name and credentials appear up front so readers know who they would be working with.
She centers therapy on each person's values and identity. Sessions focus on practical steps to handle symptoms and on restoring everyday functioning.
How Carleen works
Work may include addressing self-esteem, guilt and shame, control issues, and trauma recovery. Carleen uses a mix of approaches tailored to the person in the room. She draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thinking and behavior.
She also uses acceptance and commitment ideas to clarify values and build a life that fits those values. The process is collaborative and paced to what each person needs. She pays attention to cultural, faith, and identity factors, including Christian faith and LGBTQ+ perspectives.
That means conversations about beliefs and values are welcome when they matter to the client. Beyond core concerns, Carleen supports people dealing with grief, intimacy issues, eating and sleeping problems, career stress, ADHD, compassion fatigue, and relationship difficulties. She also addresses aging and geriatric issues, caregiver stress, blended family concerns, and substance use challenges.
Her practice is located in Kansas and she speaks English. Carleen emphasizes connection, respect, and steady progress as she works alongside people during difficult transitions.
Carleen lists 14 ways of working on the entry:
- 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
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Systemic Therapy
What Carleen works with
The areas below are the ones Carleen selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Parenting issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | LMSW, LSCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 10 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Kansas |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches fit into online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify what matters to them and take small steps toward those values while learning to tolerate difficult thoughts and feelings. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is focused on identifying unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and practicing new, more effective ways of responding; it often helps with anxiety, depression, and sleep or eating concerns. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at patterns in relationships and how early bonds affect current trust and intimacy; it can guide work on relationship struggles and attachment issues.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the therapeutic process. The therapist will work together with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, preferences, and the issues they bring. That collaborative decision making can change over time as needs shift.
Confirm the current session options before booking so you know what formats are offered. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. It also lets people continue steady work through life transitions and practice new skills between meetings.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
Book with CarleenWe will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.
Common questions
What concerns does she help with?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much experience does she have?
What credentials and region are listed?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Are international clients supported?
How are sessions priced?
How do I begin working with her?
A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. Entries are not assessed or endorsed by this directory.
Other entries for stress, anxiety
Supportive LCSW helping people build strength and clarity
Practical, trauma-aware therapy for everyday life
Practical, relational therapy for life transitions