Trauma & Addiction Recovery | Brain Health & Amen Method | EMDR-Trained Psychotherapist
Compassionate, Direct, and Transformative Mental Health Care Rooted in Honesty, Accountability, and Lasting Recovery
Holistic Mental Health Clinic | St. Petersburg, Florida
Cressica Fleming is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at The Holistic Mental Health Clinic in St. Petersburg, Florida. With more than 15 years of experience in behavioral health, addiction treatment, and psychotherapy, she helps individuals and couples navigate trauma, addiction, relationship challenges, and difficult life transitions.
Before joining the clinic in 2022, Cressica worked with Veterans at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center and provided addiction treatment to individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health concerns. Her experience informs a compassionate yet direct approach grounded in honesty, personal accountability, and lasting behavioral change.
Cressica integrates trauma-informed psychotherapy, EMDR training, brain health principles informed by the Amen Method, and evidence-based approaches tailored to each client. She helps people understand how brain health, past experiences, beliefs, and relationships shape emotional well-being, so they can build healthier patterns and move toward meaningful recovery.
Relationship Counseling, Betrayal Trauma, and Emotional Well-Being
Cressica works with individuals and couples navigating relationship distress, communication difficulties, infidelity, betrayal trauma, emotional disconnection, codependency, and recurring patterns of conflict.
Her work emphasizes understanding how childhood experiences, attachment patterns, brain type, unresolved trauma, adaptive coping and personal beliefs influence adult relationships.
She helps clients develop greater emotional awareness, establish healthy boundaries, communicate authentically, get honest with oneself, and learn to navigate conflict without avoidance, dishonesty, or destructive behaviors.
Cressica recognizes that healthy relationships require mutual respect, personal responsibility, emotional honesty, and the ability to tolerate difficult conversations.
Whether clients are working to rebuild trust, strengthen a marriage, navigate separation, or rediscover their identity outside of a relationship, her goal is to help them develop healthier connections with themselves and others.
Veterans' Mental Health and Complex Medical Care
Prior to entering private practice, Cressica served at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center in Bay Pines, Florida, working with our Veterans as they navigated mental health and substance use disorders.
Her work with Veterans involved addressing complex medical, psychological, and psychosocial concerns through comprehensive assessments, interdisciplinary collaboration, crisis intervention, case management, and coordination of care have helped her gain the comradery and trust of some of the most complex cases that come to her after many failed providers in the community.
This experience strengthened her understanding of the emotional impact of trauma, chronic illness, loss of independence, family stressors, and significant life transitions.
Cressica’s background in Veterans’ healthcare continues to inform her compassionate, direct, and whole-person approach to individuals navigating complex emotional and psychological challenges that affect quality of life.
Brain Health and Integrative Treatment: Mind, Body, and Spirit
Cressica believes effective psychotherapy must consider the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.
Her approach considers the relationship between brain health, early experiences, biological predispositions, stress, relationships, environment, physical health, spiritual beliefs, and personal choices. She incorporates brain health education and principles associated with the Amen Method when appropriate.
Treatment may incorporate psychotherapy, CBT, EMDR-informed work based on her training, clinical hypnosis, motivational interviewing, inner child work, 12-step recovery principles, and PREPARE/ENRICH relationship assessment and counseling tools, based on each client’s needs and goals.
Cressica encourages clients to reconnect with their values, personal strengths, spirituality, and the passions that may have been lost through years of emotional distress, addiction, trauma, or unhealthy relationships.
When desired by the client, spiritual beliefs and a relationship with a higher power may be thoughtfully incorporated into the therapeutic process while respecting each individual’s personal faith and values.
Her goal is to help clients develop a stronger connection with themselves, cultivate emotional resilience, and create lives grounded in authenticity, integrity, and purpose.
Professional Experience and Personal Growth
Cressica’s professional background extends beyond traditional psychotherapy and includes extensive experience in healthcare, addiction treatment, Veterans’ services, and business.
Before pursuing clinical social work, she enjoyed a successful career in real estate, earning multiple awards for sales excellence, leadership, and customer satisfaction.
This diverse background provides valuable insight into the challenges faced by business owners, professionals, caregivers, and individuals navigating demanding careers, significant transitions, and the pressures of balancing personal and professional responsibilities.
Her experience allows her to bring both clinical knowledge and practical life perspective into the therapeutic relationship.
Cressica remains committed to ethical clinical practice, professional growth, and helping clients develop the confidence, self-awareness, and emotional tools necessary to create meaningful change.
Education and Professional Credentials
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) — Florida, License SW17071
- Master of Social Work (MSW) — University of South Florida, 2016
- Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) — University of South Florida, 2011
- Specialized Clinical Experience in Addiction Treatment — More than 2,600 documented hours providing addiction-related services
Specialized Clinical Training and Certifications
Cressica has pursued additional professional training to enhance her integrative approach to psychotherapy, trauma recovery, brain health, and relationship counseling.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – Specialized training in trauma processing and recovery.
- Clinical Hypnotherapy – Training in therapeutic hypnosis to support emotional healing and behavioral change.
- Brain Health Coaching – Amen Method – Training in brain health principles and strategies that support cognitive and emotional well-being.
- PREPARE/ENRICH Couples Facilitator – Training in relationship assessment, communication, conflict resolution, and strengthening couples’ relationships.
A Personalized Approach to Healing and Lasting Recovery
Cressica believes meaningful therapeutic progress begins with honesty, self-awareness, and the courage to confront difficult truths. Her goal is to help individuals and couples uncover unresolved trauma, shame, and unhealthy patterns that keep them feeling stuck. Through a compassionate yet direct approach emphasizing personal accountability, she helps clients develop healthier relationships, strengthen emotional resilience, and achieve lasting recovery.
Cressica provides individual and couples psychotherapy, specializing in addiction recovery, trauma, betrayal, and relationship challenges. She is passionate about helping clients rediscover their authentic selves, step out of the shadows and into the light, and create meaningful change—one day at a time.
To learn more about working with Cressica Fleming, LCSW, or to schedule an appointment, contact The Holistic Mental Health Clinic in St. Petersburg, Florida, at 727-520-9447.