Licensed to practice in 2 states and accepts 10 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Military/Veterans, Trauma and PTSD and 5 more.
(she/her)
New to Grow
Hi, My name is Melissa Pelletier. I have been a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker for over 27 years. I'm trained in a variety of evidence-based approaches to treat your underlying symptoms by empowering you to recognize and respond to them in more adaptive ways. I provide a healthy dose of education to help you understand your symptoms, the process of why they are occurring and how your responses such as avoidance can keep you stuck. I will teach you skills to learn how to interrupt patterns of unhelpful, dysfunctional thinking, skills on how to manage powerful emotions, and work with you to develop the courage to change how you respond to painful thoughts and emotions.
In our first session, we will explore your presenting problems, how they are impacting your day to day life and talk about what you want to change in your life. We will start to formulate specific and measurable goals to work on in therapy. I want you to be clear about what you want to change. Is there something you want to be more of, or doing less of? I want you to be able to measure your own progress so you know if therapy is useful or not. I like to be informal, I sometimes use humor, stories and metaphors and want you to be yourself. Our first session is a chance for us to get to know each other and for you to assess if I am a good fit to meet your needs. After all, for therapy to be successful, you need to feel comfortable with me and have confidence that I understand your unique problems and have the skills to help you address them.
With over 27 years experience, I have had the opportunity to hone my clinical skills and have confidence in my ability to help you get unstuck and move forward. I am not afraid to call out avoidance and push you if that is what I think you need and also know when to back off, provide support, empathy and validation. I appreciate a collaborative approach to therapy and our relationship. I am open minded, curious and recognize that you are the expert, not me. I will provide support, advice and guidance when needed, but will encourage you to find the answers within yourself.
Many people come into therapy having no idea what the root problem is causing distress, but they know something isn't quite right. You might be feeling anxious, depressed, have trouble sleeping, having difficulty focusing and concentrating at home, school or work. You might be isolating more and find you have no interest in doing things that you used to love to do. You want to reclaim your old self but just thinking about going out, talking to people is just too much to handle right now. You start to worry about what might happen and then feel anxious... so you stay home. The cycle repeats itself over and over and you find your life has gotten smaller and smaller. I love to work with clients struggling with anxiety, from more generalized anxiety, social anxiety and panic disorder. I have quite a bit of experience working with Active Duty Service Members and Veterans and understand the unique challenges this population faces during and after service. Skills you might learn from me include learning how to recognize unhelpful patterns of thinking that negatively impact emotions and behavior, tolerating discomfort that shows up when things in our life are uncertain, flexibility, problem solving, understanding and naming emotions, emotion regulation skills, setting boundaries and other assertiveness skills you need to learn how to say no and ask for things, skills to learn how to respond more effectively when difficult thoughts, memories and feelings show up, how to be more present in your life, how to interrupt patterns of worry or negative thinking that exacerbate your distress and more.
I utilize CBT and other evidenced based treatments that fall under the umbrella of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy such as ACT, DBT, and the Unified Protocol. I structure therapy sessions to be goal focused and skills based so that you can learn how to get unstuck, interrupt unhelpful patterns of thinking or behaviors that get in the way of you living the life that you want.
I am trained in CBT for Insomnia which is a short term treatment with interventions that target unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that contribute to insomnia.
CBT for Suicide Prevention is a short term treatment that helps to stabilize clients with suicidal ideation and decrease risk factors for suicide. This treatment solely focuses on resolving suicidal crisis, teaching client skills to cope with suicide ideation, problem solve and change unhelpful thoughts and beliefs contributing to mental health crisis.
I am trained to treat client with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I am trained in Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy and Written Exposure Therapy, all treatments are evidenced based and are effective at reducing symptoms of PTSD and impact on day to day functioning.
I am trained to treat client with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I am trained in Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy and Written Exposure Therapy, all treatments are evidenced based and are effective at reducing symptoms of PTSD and impact on day to day functioning.