Carleen Riley-Mercado, LMSW, LSCSW

Carleen Riley-Mercado is a licensed social worker with ten years of clinical experience. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, parenting challenges, low self-esteem, and relationship or intimacy concerns. She also supports people coping with grief, trauma, ADHD, and the life shifts that come in midlife.

Carleen practices with respect for each person’s values and identity. She works with clients from religious and nonreligious backgrounds, and with LGBTQ+ individuals. Her aim is to create a space where people feel heard and treated with dignity.

Her approach focuses on what matters day to day. Sessions include talking through problems, identifying patterns, and trying skills that can change how someone responds to stress or difficult feelings. She pays attention to worries about control, guilt, shame, and caregiving strain.

Carleen uses practical methods such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Attachment-Based approaches. She also brings techniques from Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Client-Centered work to help with emotion regulation and stronger relationships. Treatment plans are shaped around each person's goals and pace.

She is licensed in Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, and Kansas and holds the credentials LMSW and LSCSW. If someone wants to explore therapy, she encourages a straightforward first step of answering a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a session to see how the fit feels.

Approaches and what online work can look like

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match their values. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful patterns. It often helps with anxiety, sleep problems, and mood concerns. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on relationship patterns and early bonds to improve how someone connects with others and manages emotional triggers.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before. Together they decide which methods to try and adjust them based on how the client responds.

Session options are not listed here, so confirm current formats before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. It also lets people use methods like ACT and CBT in the moment where problems occur, and it supports consistent practice of new skills between sessions. Licensed professionals will help plan practical ways to weave therapy into daily life.