Welcome! I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 25 years in the field of mental health. I have worked with people at all ages and stages of life and who have a variety of different background experiences. I am honored to help you in your healing journey in whatever phase you are currently in. The needs of each individual are unique. My experience and training allow me to offer both integrated and specific therapies to help clients who are struggling with depression, anxiety, life stress and adjustment issues. If you have experienced troublesome or tramatic life events, I will work with you on alleviating negative symptoms and modifying unhealthy behaviors that impact you and those close to you. I offer many therapeutic approaches to healing such as psychodynamic psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. I strive to help clients harness their strengths to achieve more confidence and independence. I am trained to provide EMDR ( Eye MovementDesensitization and Reprocessing. This targeted therapy can help if you have distressing memories and negative beliefs about yourself. EMDR can help you "reprocess" negative and/or traumatic events and help you to feel as if the event is further away and less intrusive. I believe there are many ways to heal. Throughout the therapeutic process we will work to help you find your right path, take control of your journey and feel more optomistic about your future.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

During our first meeting, I will ask you to share your reasons for seeking therapy. You might wish to tell me about your life history and you might want to share family and childhood memories. You will decide what you think I need to know and what you would like to share about yourself. There might be memories or life events that you are not ready to share and that is okay too. In fact, I will pay close attention to see if you are feeling triggered by talking about anything specific and will help you to manage any difficult feelings that arise during our first appointment. People do not typically seek out therapy if they are not in distress so I would like you to leave with at least one new skill that you can use to help you between out sessions. I would also like for you to know that it is okay if you are not able to share everything you need to share during our first session. Therapy is a process that weaves together thoughts, feeling and behaviors to achieve your ultimate desire to feel better.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

I feel that my strengths are in the therapeutic relationship that I establish with clients. How you feel during our meetings will be very important because it will help me get a sense of what you need, as an individual, to help you feel better. While I have training in multiple therapeutic interventions, I strive to be as integrative as possible so that you can recieve the benefits of many types of therapy. For instance, sometimes you might want something as straightforward as a specific positive idea to help you reframe a negative belief. Other times, what might be important is for you to have a therapist who is able to sit with you and validate your most difficult feelings and traumitic experiences. The most common thread that I have seen among the people whom I have worked with over the decades is that they have not had enough validation or witnessing of their feelings and experiences. My job is to bear witness to your pain and to help get you to a place where you feel more secure and connected.

About Melissa B. Turner

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