About Megan
Megan Hougardy is a licensed marriage and family therapist practicing in California. She has nine years of clinical experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and major life changes.
Background and approach
Her approach focuses on practical steps and steady support as clients take small risks toward feeling better. She creates a calm, nonjudgmental space where thoughts and feelings can be spoken plainly.
Sessions typically center on identifying what matters to the client, building coping skills, and trying new behaviors outside session. Megan encourages realistic goals and steady progress rather than quick fixes.
Megan uses several evidence-based approaches to match each person's needs. She draws from acceptance and commitment ideas to clarify values and increase willingness to feel difficult thoughts.
Cognitive behavioral techniques are used to spot unhelpful thinking and practice alternative responses. Mindfulness and brief hypnotherapy tools are added when they fit a client's preferences.
These techniques can help with sleep problems, emotional regulation, chronic pain, and rumination. Therapy often blends talk work with short, doable exercises to practice between meetings.
Clients who want help with relationship strain, self-esteem, career stress, or family-of-origin issues will find a practical, compassionate style. The focus is on real-life change you can notice week to week.
Megan supports people as they find clearer direction and more reliable coping habits.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people identify what truly matters to them and take steps toward those values even when feelings are hard. It often involves simple exercises to notice thoughts and commit to small, meaningful actions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing different behaviors to change mood and habits. It works well for anxiety, depression, sleep troubles, and low confidence. Mindfulness Therapy trains attention and awareness through brief practices that reduce rumination and improve emotional regulation; it can be useful for stress, chronic pain, and coping with loss.Choosing the right mix of methods is a team effort. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences, try approaches that fit, and adjust based on what helps most. That collaborative process means methods can be blended so sessions match each person's needs rather than following a single formula.
Online therapy with this practice is offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video lets people read nonverbal cues and run through exercises together. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and messaging work well for quick updates, homework check-ins, or ongoing reflection between sessions. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into a busy life.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English