Melanie Pfennig (she/her)

LMSW
Accepting Clients

Melanie is a Licensed Social Worker who emphasizes integrative/functional health and holistic, whole-person approaches.

Social Worker in New York
Supervised by Kerrie Collazo, LCSW

Services
  • Individual
  • Family
  • Child
  • Adolescent/Teen

About My Clients

Melanie works with children, teens, and adults navigating chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and gastrointestinal issues. In addition, Melanie treats emotional challenges like anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship stress, life transitions, weight loss concerns, disordered eating, perfectionism, and performance pressures, especially in athletes.

My Background and Approach

Melanie's approach integrates strategies like polyvagal-informed techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy, and intuitive eating through a strengths-based lens. Melanie is dedicated to helping her clients understand the connection between their body, brain, and behavior, so they can build sustainable tools for relief and resilience. She draws from her training in functional medicine for mental health and therapeutic interventions for medical illness, her experience working alongside a clinical health psychologist and in community mental health, and her background as a former Division I athlete. This allows her support both physical and emotional well-being through a balanced, root-cause, and performance-informed perspective. She is currently pursuing a master's in nutrition and dietetics as part of her ongoing journey to better support clients' health.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

Melanie is dedicated to helping her clients explore how their nervous system responds to stress and illness, how past experiences may shape current struggles, and how to help people tap into their natural capacity for regulation, connection, and healing. She believes in honoring her clients' lived experience while offering practical and holistic therapeutic interventions.

Techniques I Use

Specialties
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Motivational Interviewing
Other Techniques
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Attachment Theory
  • Family Systems
  • Holistic Therapy
  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Issues I Treat

Specialties
Anxiety Chronic Pain or Illness Depression
Other Issues
  • Abuse
  • Attachment
  • Body Image Issues
  • Burnout
  • Career Counseling
  • Codependency
  • Eating Disorders
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Relationship Issues
  • Self-Esteem
  • Sexual Abuse or Assault
  • Spirituality
  • Teen Issues
  • Women's Issues
Insurance Plans Accepted
  • Aetna
  • Cigna
  • Medicare
  • Oscar
  • Optum
  • United Healthcare
  • Evernorth
I offer online counseling in the following states:

At A Glance

  • Experience: 3 years of practice
  • Languages: English
  • Rate: $150/session

Reach out to Melanie