- Client-centered focus
- Faith-based option
- 26 years experience
About Elaine
Elaine Messarra is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Texas who blends a client-centered approach with practical therapy tools. She draws on 26 years of experience and offers individual therapy to adults aged 18 and over. Elaine provides faith-based options, including prayer and Bible-centered support, when clients wish to include religion in counseling.
Elaine spent two decades as a teacher and school counselor, and she has long worked in private practice and online settings. She has also offered individual therapy to nursing home and assisted living residents, which informs her work with aging and caregiver concerns. Her background gives her experience with grief, chronic illness, dementia and end-of-life issues.
Her approach is calm and paced to fit each person. She uses therapeutic talk, active listening, and unconditional positive regard to help people process feelings. Elaine combines Client-Centered Therapy with techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused and Narrative approaches, plus mindfulness practices.
Common concerns she helps people with include anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, stress, relationship and intimacy-related issues, codependency, boundary problems, addictions, and compassion fatigue. She also supports people facing life transitions, career stress, and family-of-origin issues.
Sessions emphasize feeling heard and understood first, then working toward clearer thinking and practical changes. Elaine aims for clients to leave sessions feeling a bit lighter and more hopeful. She invites people to take the first step toward change and offers steady support along the way.
How Elaine’s approaches work in online therapy
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person in front of the therapist. It means the therapist follows the client’s pace, listens without judgment, and helps people clarify what matters to them. This approach helps with anxiety, depression, grief, and stress by creating space to be heard.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact. It uses practical strategies to test unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors, which can help with anxiety, depression, and coping skills. Emotionally-Focused Therapy emphasizes understanding and expressing emotions to improve how people relate to themselves and others, which can be useful for intimacy-related struggles and attachment issues.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Elaine collaborates with each person to identify goals and then uses methods that fit those goals and preferences. She adjusts pace and tools as progress or new concerns emerge, keeping the process flexible and client-driven.
If you are interested in online therapy, confirm the current session options before booking since formats are not specified here. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins when time is limited, and reduce travel time. Licensed professionals can often weave mindfulness exercises, narrative reflection, and CBT tools into remote sessions to support steady progress.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
26+ years
Credentials
Texas
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What issues does Elaine commonly address?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, grief, addictions, relationship and intimacy-related concerns, codependency, caregiver fatigue, and related life changes.
What is her overall therapy style?
Elaine uses a client-centered style that prioritizes listening and pacing. She blends talk therapy with practical tools from CBT, EFT, narrative work, and mindfulness.
How long has she been practicing?
She has 26 years of experience as a psychotherapist, with work in private practice, online therapy, and services to nursing home and assisted living residents.
Where is she based and what are her credentials?
Elaine is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) practicing in Texas.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can people outside the United States work with her?
International clients are not currently accepted.
How are fees and payment handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to therapist availability.
Profile details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. Credential and registration rules differ between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.