Life Transitions
Lou helps individuals navigate life transitions, grief, and the nuances of later-life challenges.
Where one change creates a ripple effect.
Melissa Lou Koerner, LCSW, and David Koerner, LCSW, are a husband-and-wife team who have made Venice, Florida, their home and professional haven.
Our Practice
Welcome to Ripple Effect Therapy! We’re not just therapists. We’re a husband-and-wife team who have made Venice, Florida, our home and professional haven. After many years in private practice here, we have stepped out on our own to create a space where meaningful change happens one ripple at a time.
We understand the balancing act of life. Alongside our two wonderful sons, two dogs and a cat, we try to make the most of Florida’s beautiful outdoors and to foster a spirit of balance and warmth at home. We aim to bring that same sense of balance and warmth into our therapy practice.
At Ripple Effect Therapy, our diverse backgrounds help us connect with clients from all walks of life. We’re here to support you on your journey, offering a space where your story is heard and your goals matter.
General Mental Health Support
Mental health support for anxiety, depression, life stressors, and relationship issues.
Specialized Areas of Support
Anxiety & Trauma
David has a deep understanding of anxiety disorders and is fully trauma-informed in his care.
Family Relationships
Lou has a subspecialty in enmeshment and estrangement and works with complex family dynamics.
Depression & Veterans
David focuses especially on depression, veterans, and people navigating major life transitions.
Therapeutic Orientation
The approaches Lou and David bring to their work.
- Family systems and attachment theory in Lou’s work
- Internal Family Systems, trauma-informed care, and CBT in Lou’s work
- Trauma-informed care, EMDR, CBT, and Family Systems Theory in David’s work
Meet Lou and David.
LCSW
Melissa Lou Koerner
You’ve spent a lifetime carrying your burdens. Her job is to help you finally exhale.
Lou is a therapist with 25+ years of experience helping people navigate the messy, meaningful, and often hilarious business of being human. She’s a generalist at heart, which means you don’t have to fit into a diagnostic box to work with her. If it’s part of your story, it’s welcome in the room.
Over the years she’s supported adults, couples, families, caregivers, Veterans, adoptive families, and folks moving through grief, trauma, identity shifts, and major life transitions. From school hallways to hospice rooms to VA clinics to private practice, she’s learned one thing over and over: people are far more resilient than they realize.
Therapeutic orientation
Her style is warm, grounded, and practical. She blends trauma‐informed care, attachment work, and evidence‐based approaches with a light dose of humor because sometimes the only way through a hard moment is to laugh at how absurd life can be.
And while she’s a true generalist, she’ll admit her favorite work these days is helping adults untangle enmeshment, estrangement, and parentification. There’s something powerful about watching people reclaim space in their own lives after years of carrying roles that were never theirs to begin with.
If you’re looking for a therapist who can help you untangle what’s heavy, honor what’s hopeful, and laugh a little along the way, she’s got a seat saved for you.
LCSW
David Koerner
David’s story is one of dedication and diverse experience. Raised in New York, he did his undergraduate work at Boston University and received his Masters in Social Work and Public Health from the University of South Carolina. He has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, (LCSW), for over 25 years. David draws upon a wide variety of lived experiences, from being a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic to serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Therapeutic orientation
David uses a strength-based approach utilizing psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral techniques. He is also certified in EMDR, (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).
His main goals are to provide services that help to improve mental health, physical health, and personal growth. He offers a safe and supportive environment so that clients might gain insight as well as learn skills to live the kind of lives they envision for themselves.
Insurance & Payment
Ripple Effect Therapy accepts Medicare and secondary insurance associated with Medicare. We also accept various private insurance plans. Please contact the practice to discuss your individual insurance coverage. Private-pay sessions are $150, whether in person or by telehealth. Superbills are available upon request for clients using out-of-network benefits.