Frances Merz
Therapist guiding practical, individualized change
LPC New Jersey
- Experience
- 19 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Self esteem, Career
- Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Therapy
- Languages
- English
About Frances
Frances Merz is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in New Jersey with 19 years of clinical experience helping people navigate life transitions and resolve persistent concerns. She approaches counseling as a collaborative process, selecting techniques from an eclectic range of theories to match each person's strengths and needs.
Background and approach
Frances emphasizes practical change, whether someone seeks clearer decision making, relief from anxiety, or better coping strategies during stressful times. Her work covers a broad set of issues including stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, career questions, grief, trauma and abuse, sleep difficulties, parenting challenges, bipolar disorder, depression, compassion fatigue, and ADHD.
She also focuses on life purpose, seasonal affective disorder, social anxiety and phobia, and young adult issues. Frances has experience supporting people facing medical care navigation and those considering or recovering from weight loss surgery, offering guidance on how to communicate with providers and manage the emotional aspects of medical concerns.
Frances stresses that therapy requires active engagement from the client and avoids one-size-fits-all methods. She does not provide marriage or relationship counseling or online care for serious mental illness, and she is available Monday through Thursday with typical message replies within 24 hours.
CBT and Solution-Focused Work in an Online Setting
Frances incorporates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help clients identify and shift unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors, offering concrete tools for issues such as anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. She also uses Solution-Focused Therapy to help clients set clear goals and build small, achievable steps toward change, which is especially useful for career decisions, coping with life transitions, and problem-solving.Finding the right approach is treated as a collaborative process. Frances discusses options with each person, tailors techniques to individual goals and preferences, and adjusts the plan as progress and needs evolve so therapy stays useful and relevant.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility for different schedules and comfort levels. These formats make it possible to engage in practical skill-building and goal-focused work without the constraints of travel, and they support ongoing communication and follow-up between scheduled sessions.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
19+ years
Licensed
New Jersey
Languages
English