Merle Montalvo

Merle Montalvo is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Mississippi with 23 years of clinical experience. She holds a Master of Science and is licensed to provide clinical social work services in the state, offering support across a wide range of life challenges.

Merle’s entry into social work came as a midlife transition; the phrase “It’s never too late” became a guiding mantra as she rebuilt her life more than 30 years ago. With time and a stronger cognitive perspective, she now prefers the idea “It’s not too late right now” as an encouraging reminder for people making change at any stage.

Her background is culturally mixed, and she approaches each person as an individual while acknowledging shared human experience. Her practice draws on extensive work in outpatient and inpatient settings, intensive outpatient programs, home health, and hospice care.

Merle uses an eclectic, person-centered approach and adapts techniques to fit each client’s needs. She integrates humanistic and insight-oriented perspectives with cognitive-behavioral strategies, holistic considerations, and solution-focused methods to address concerns such as stress, anxiety, grief, anger management, self-esteem, depression, relationship and family conflicts, trauma and abuse, career difficulties, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, and ADHD.