Melanie
Melanie is an EMDRIA Approved EMDR Therapist and holds a graduate certification in Play Therapy. She works with adults, teens, and children and is passionate about supporting her clients in discovering and rediscovering who they are. Adults: Melanie works with adults who are struggling with the impacts and distress resulting from traumatic experiences. Utilizing an EMDR approach that supports creating new pathways in the brain for trauma and memories to get “unstuck” and processed, Melanie is dedicated to walking the distance with her clients toward transformative healing. Children & Teens: Melanie works with children and teens who have experienced traumatic events and have a hard time adjusting due to the lasting stress and distressing effects. Utilizing a child-centered play therapy approach, Melanie works in a playroom with carefully selected toys for children to express themselves in an environment where they feel safe and accepted. Play therapy is a developmentally sensitive approach in which the toys are seen as the child’s words and play is seen as the child’s language.
Background
Born and raised in Chicago, Melanie moved to Florida to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Tampa and a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Central Florida. Melanie started her counseling career working with children and holds a Play Therapy graduate certificate from the University of Central Florida. Specializing in trauma, Melanie completed two semesters of graduate internship working at Orlando VA Medical Center and Lake Baldwin VA Clinic as a mental health counselor for Veterans.
Melanie is passionate about holistically and collaboratively working with her clients and welcoming creative approaches into therapy to work with the whole brain for optimal healing. Melanie values the importance of curiosity as a means toward increased understanding and insight for change.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” - Lao Tzu
Specialties
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- Trauma-informed care
- Sandtray therapy
- Play Therapy
Resources For You
Before your first appointment, you will be sent a link to your client portal where you will complete forms. Below are examples of what the forms may look like:
