You deserve to feel valued, seen, and celebrated exactly how you are.
About Mel
Mentors, colleagues, and community have described me as warm, passionate, and self aware. I believe that in order to really provide an encouraging place for organic connection and healing to occur is for a “safe” human to be mindfully attuned to your voice, hopes, and what is happening in the space of the here and now. I think the sweet spot in life is finding balance between actively tending to our wounds and shadows while graciously embracing the beauty of joy and simplicity. We are not a never ending project to be fixed, we are human beings meant to heal & move on to live into the fullness of life.
When I am not in session you can find me on the yoga mat, pulling inspiration from the globe, or getting slobbered on by my two energetic pups. I am a dancer & artist and find the integration of my artistry & therapy to be incredibly fascinating.
Education + Training
I received my Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. I am currently working towards an additional licensure as a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist. I often delve into cultural somatics and neuroscience to widen my perspectives on various human experiences. I have experience working in inpatient settings including residential and partial hospitalization as well as intensive outpatient with adolescents and adults. My work has mostly involved treating patients with trauma, anxiety, and depression but has expanded over the years into abuse recovery with sexual abuse, narcissistic abuse, and religious trauma. Other specialities include working with artists experiencing grief, burnout, and imposter syndrome.
While I am confident in my schooling journey and the educators that contribute to my professional therapeutic foundation and orientation, I am also aware that Western psychotherapy and practices inevitably have blindspots and limitations as much of the lineages are derived from predominantly individualistic and privileged cultures including the U.S. and Europe.
“I see therapists as responsible agents of social change, action, and justice in the communities.”
I see therapists as responsible agents of social change, action, and justice in the communities. In order to avoid violations of human dignity, I am continuously learning how white supremacy and colonization have contributed to the complex trauma in the individual experience as well as the collective; historically and intergenerationally. This not only impacts the way in which we engage in relationships with one another but also how we view and feel in our bodies.
I find it crucial to continue to engage in ongoing self evaluation around how my white privilege has harmed and has the potential to do harm in and out of the therapeutic setting. I feel an urgency to continue research around the ways in which my practice can offer inclusivity and sensitivity to the individual and collective therapeutic needs of marginalized groups and on the behalf of deep communal and systemic healing and change.
As I am working through the ways my privileges as a white person have been interwoven not only into my identity as a participant in community but as a practitioner partnering in the healing of complex trauma, it is inevitable that I will fail as I attempt to embody anti-racist and anti-prejudice work and strive to help deconstruct systems of power. Therefore, I am deeply apologetic for any unintentional relational and systemic damage caused by my participation in culturally appropriative or inherently white dominant systems past, present, and future and I welcome feedback as I continue to reassess how I personally can reduce harm.
The American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (2014) lists “promoting social justice” as a core professional value for mental health clinicians. This code defines social justice as “the promotion of equity for all people and groups for the purpose of ending oppression and injustice affecting clients, students, counselors, families, communities, schools, workplaces, governments, and other social and institutional systems.”
For a closer look at the ACA Code of Ethics, click here.
Not sure if therapy is right for you?
Book a free 20 minute phone call to see if we would be a good fit. If not, I will do my best to send you with referrals that might be able to meet your needs.