Licensed to practice in 3 states and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and PTSD and 5 more.
(she/her)
Life isn’t easy—especially when you’ve always been the strong one everyone else depends on. From the outside, you may look like you’re holding it all together, but inside you feel overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, anxious, or disconnected from yourself. If you’ve spent so much time taking care of everyone else that you’ve forgotten what it feels like to care for yourself, you’re not alone. I’m Melanie, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker serving clients in Texas, Mississippi, and Florida. I specialize in working with teens, young adults, and women navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, low self-esteem, relationship challenges, and major life transitions. My passion is helping people move beyond survival mode, quiet overthinking, regulate intense emotions, heal from past experiences, and rebuild trust in themselves. My approach is warm, compassionate, collaborative, and tailored to your unique needs. I integrate evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and EMDR to help you better understand yourself while creating meaningful, lasting change. I believe therapy isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about reconnecting with the version of yourself that existed before anxiety, self-doubt, or past experiences convinced you otherwise. Together, we’ll create a space where you can feel seen, supported, challenged, and empowered as you build healthier patterns, stronger relationships, and a life that feels more authentic. You don’t have to carry everything by yourself anymore.
Starting therapy can feel overwhelming, especially if you’ve spent years being the one everyone else depends on. Reaching out for support takes courage, and I want you to know that you don’t have to have everything figured out before our first appointment. Whether this is your first experience with therapy or you’re returning after some time away, my goal is to create a welcoming, judgment-free space where you feel safe, heard, and supported from the very beginning. During our first session, we’ll spend time getting to know each other. I’ll invite you to share what brought you to therapy, the challenges you’ve been experiencing, what has been weighing on you recently, and what you hope will be different in your life. We may explore how your current struggles are affecting different areas of your life, including your relationships, work or school, physical health, confidence, and overall well-being. There is absolutely no expectation that you’ll know exactly what to say or where to begin. I’ll help guide the conversation with curiosity, compassion, and thoughtful questions so we can better understand your experiences together. We’ll also begin identifying patterns that may be keeping you stuck. Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, overthinking, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional burnout, low self-esteem, grief, relationship challenges, or major life transitions, we’ll work together to understand not only what’s happening, but why those patterns developed and how they may have helped you survive difficult experiences in the past. Understanding these patterns is often the first step toward creating lasting change. In addition to exploring your concerns, I also want to learn about your strengths. We’ll talk about what’s important to you, the values that guide your life, the support systems you have, and the goals you’d like to accomplish through therapy. Rather than focusing only on what’s “wrong,” we’ll also identify what’s already working and build on those strengths throughout our work together. Before we end our first session, we’ll collaborate on a treatment plan tailored specifically to your needs, goals, and pace. I believe therapy works best when it feels like a partnership, so your voice will always be an important part of the process. Together, we’ll decide what areas to focus on first and develop a roadmap that feels realistic, meaningful, and achievable. My approach is warm, collaborative, and evidence-based. I draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and EMDR to help clients better understand themselves, develop practical coping skills, improve emotional regulation, heal from painful experiences, and build healthier ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others. Most importantly, I want you to leave your first session with hope. Therapy isn’t about being judged or expected to have all the answers—it’s about having a space where you can be yourself without pretending everything is okay. Healing takes time, but you don’t have to do it alone. My hope is that each session helps you feel more confident, more connected to yourself, and more empowered to create the life you deserve.
My therapeutic approach is trauma-informed, integrative, and flexible. I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all model for healing. Instead, I tailor each session to your unique needs, goals, and lived experiences. I draw from a variety of evidence-based practices, including: • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Helping you identify and reframe unhelpful thought patterns. • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Providing tools for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and building healthier relationships. • Narrative Therapy: Exploring the stories you’ve been told—or have told yourself—about who you are, and rewriting them in ways that reflect your strength and truth. • Trauma-Informed Care: Ensuring safety, trust, and empowerment as you work through painful past experiences. • Mindfulness & Somatic Tools: Helping you reconnect with your body, calm your nervous system, and find grounding in the present moment. In addition to these modalities, I also incorporate emotional regulation strategies, self-compassion practices, boundary-setting skills, and inner child healing. These tools allow us to work not just on surface-level symptoms, but on the deeper patterns that keep you stuck. I believe therapy should be both reflective and practical. That means we’ll spend time exploring the “why” behind your struggles, but we’ll also build tangible skills you can use outside of session. Whether it’s calming racing thoughts, improving communication, or learning to set boundaries, I’ll equip you with strategies you can take into your daily life. Over time, our work together will help you feel more in control of your emotions, more confident in your relationships, and more connected to yourself. My goal is for therapy not only to help you cope—but to help you grow, heal, and thrive.
One of my greatest strengths as a therapist is creating a space where you don’t have to pretend. Many of my clients come to therapy after spending years being the strong one for everyone else. They’re used to holding everything together, pushing through difficult emotions, or feeling like they have to appear “okay” even when they’re struggling. In our sessions, you don’t have to perform, minimize your pain, or have all the right words. My goal is to create an environment where you feel genuinely safe, accepted, and understood exactly as you are. Clients often describe me as warm, compassionate, authentic, and easy to talk to. I believe that healing happens through a strong therapeutic relationship, so I prioritize building trust from the very beginning. I listen deeply without judgment while also helping you recognize patterns that may be keeping you stuck. I strive to balance empathy with honest feedback, offering both support and gentle challenges that encourage growth. I’ll celebrate your wins with you, but I’ll also help you explore the uncomfortable places that often lead to the greatest breakthroughs. Another strength I bring is my ability to tailor therapy to the individual sitting in front of me. I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach because every person, relationship, and life experience is different. I integrate evidence-based approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to create a treatment plan that reflects your unique needs, goals, and strengths. Whether we’re working on anxiety, depression, trauma, self-esteem, emotional regulation, grief, relationship challenges, or major life transitions, our work together will be collaborative and personalized. I’m also passionate about helping clients move beyond simply coping. While learning practical coping skills is important, I believe lasting healing comes from understanding the deeper patterns beneath your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Together, we’ll explore where those patterns came from, identify what continues to keep them alive, and develop healthier ways of responding to yourself and the world around you. My goal isn’t just to help you feel better temporarily—it’s to help you create meaningful, lasting change that continues long after therapy ends. If you’ve spent years living in survival mode, therapy can feel unfamiliar at first. I’ll meet you with patience, curiosity, and compassion every step of the way. I believe healing isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about reconnecting with the version of yourself that has always been there beneath the anxiety, self-doubt, people-pleasing, perfectionism, or pain. My hope is that our sessions become a place where you feel empowered to show up authentically, trust yourself more deeply, build healthier relationships, and create a life that feels aligned with who you truly are—not just who you’ve had to be to survive.
I work best with teens, young adults, and women who are tired of carrying the weight of being “the strong one.” Many of my clients are high achievers who appear to have everything together on the outside but feel overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected on the inside. They often struggle with anxiety, depression, trauma, low self-esteem, perfectionism, people-pleasing, overthinking, relationship challenges, grief, or major life transitions. Many have spent years putting everyone else’s needs before their own, leaving little room to process their own emotions or ask for help. They’re used to pushing through difficult situations, minimizing their struggles, or believing they have to handle everything alone. By the time they begin therapy, they know something needs to change—they’re just unsure where to start. My ideal clients are motivated to better understand themselves, develop healthier coping skills, improve emotional regulation, build stronger boundaries, and create more fulfilling relationships. Whether you’re looking to heal from past experiences, quiet your inner critic, navigate a difficult season of life, or finally move beyond survival mode, I’m here to support you. Together, we’ll create a space where you can feel safe enough to be honest, empowered to grow, and confident in building a life that feels more authentic, balanced, and aligned with who you truly are.
Other specialties
I identify as