I am a licensed professional counselor in Arizona and Louisiana. I work with individuals, families and children birth to any age who are struggling to overcome trauma or other adverse situations. My passion is children and families. Grow accepts age 6 and up but if you are a parent of a younger child, I would be happy to work with you on parenting stress and help you build skills to support your young child's mental health and minimize challenging behaviors that limit family enjoyment and fulfillment. I am rostered in Child Parent Psychotherapy and basic trained in EMDR. I use play and art therapy techniques and parenting education in my work with children. With adults and children I approach therapy from a person centered framework and utilize other methodologies such as CBT to help you become a more fulfilled version of yourself. I have worked with people from all walks of life and socioeconomic status in outpatient settings, community based programs, group homes, day programs and families involved with children's services. I have experience with young children starting at birth, families, adolescents, adults and seriously mentally ill individuals. If you are seeking help for your child or yourself I would be happy to meet with you for a consultation.

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

There are things that must happen at the start of counseling. We have to develop a treatment plan and goals as required for insurances. However, I am a very person-centered counselor. I don't like to just jump into homework and skills training. Rather I prefer to hear your story, get to know you and allow you to get comfortable with me. As we talk we will identify areas of challenges and needs. Then we will decide together what the best course of action to follow such as if a particular form of therapy is most appropriate for you.

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

I am a very caring individual with a lot of empathy. I genuinely care about my clients and want to see them succeed. I strive to gain knowledge if I need to understand how to better help my clients. I understand what it is to be on the other side of counseling and really respect the courage it takes to take that first step and to keep coming when it feels challenging.

About Melanie Dowler