Merry McKinnon

Merry McKinnon is a California-licensed marriage and family therapist with 33 years of experience. She focuses on helping people who struggle with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and ADHD-related challenges. Merry often works with adults who feel stuck, isolated, or overwhelmed by school, work, or social situations.

Her background includes long-term work with neurodiverse conditions such as high-functioning autism (formerly Asperger Syndrome), non-verbal learning disorder, and auditory processing differences. Merry describes many clients first coming in for anxiety, grief, or motivation problems and later discovering underlying learning differences or attention challenges.

Merry uses a relational approach that centers the client-therapist connection. She works through a behaviorally informed cognitive lens, helping people notice patterns, test new ways of thinking, and try different actions in daily life. Sessions focus on practical steps as well as understanding how personal history shapes current habits.

She helps clients uncover strengths and rethink limiting self-concepts. That may mean problem-solving organization and coping strategies for ADHD, practicing social skills for anxiety, or working through grief and low mood. Merry emphasizes that change is possible at any stage and that therapy can be a place to try things out and build momentum.

Merry values collaboration and patience. She aims to help people leave sessions with clearer next steps and small, manageable goals they can use between meetings.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online work

Merry describes her approach as relational and behaviorally informed. Cognitive-behavioral ideas are used to spot unhelpful thinking and test new behaviors in everyday life. This helps with anxiety, depression, motivation, and organization by turning insights into concrete experiments and small habit changes.

She also emphasizes relational work, focusing on the connection between therapist and client. That means sessions include discussion of how relationships and past patterns affect current feelings, with an aim to build trust and try new interaction styles that reduce isolation and social anxiety.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Merry collaborates with each person to decide what techniques fit best, based on their goals and preferences. She adjusts pace and tools so people can try strategies between sessions and report back on what helps.

The original biography does not list specific online session formats, so confirm available options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to schedule appointments, fit sessions into a busy day, or use brief check-ins when longer meetings are hard to arrange. It can also reduce travel time and help maintain continuity of care during life changes.