Melissa Stevenson

I believe in an all encompassing approach to helping, which involves the mind, body and spirt. I am different than most therapists because I have a over a decade of experience helping people find ways to help themselves feel better. I have done short (5 sessions) and long-term therapy (over 5 years) with individuals and couples. I have seen the arc of change happen in those people’s lives. I understand that change can be scary and healing is sometimes complicated. Sometimes my focus is about helping someone develop practical resources and action plans to deal with real life problems in the moment. It can also be about making peace with something very upsetting. Over the years, I have learned that trying to discover the “why” of suffering is not always helpful. While fascinating to think about, years can go by trying to answer the question about “why am I the way that I am?” I have found that asking the “what” and “how” questions are much more fruitful for forward progress. I tend to work with people over longer periods of time because often times our suffering in the moment is tied to deeper wounds that are connected to past experiences. I strive to be the kind of therapist that can help you find relief while you are in crisis and suffering, but also transform your life in whatever way you feel inspired to when you are out of the crisis. While therapy is probably best known for being a place to talk things out, it is imperative that we listen to what the nervous system is trying to tell us in our own body. Especially when we have gone through trauma, our nervous system responses may not match what we think is going on in our head. If you have ever thought, “why is this still bothering me, I thought I was over this?!”, your nervous system may still be responding to the event in the past.