Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Melissa earned her first Masters degree from The Pennsylvania State University in Biobehavioral Health in 2010 and subsequent Masters degree in Counseling Psychology in 2014. Melissa completed her internship working with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She has worked with children/adolescents in the foster care system and facilitated parenting groups for parents attempting to reunify with their kids. Melissa has worked with individuals and couples across multiple clinic and community settings, receiving her MFT license in May 2023 and licensed to practice in California.
Melissa utilizes her science background to assist her patients in identifying how their thoughts and feelings impact nervous system activation (stress response). Melissa treats patients of all ages and diagnoses impacted by trauma, providing a safe space to process memories, thoughts and emotions and using cognitive behavioral therapy to assist her patients in identifying harmful beliefs, while applying solution-focused therapy to help patients identify and work towards their therapeutic goals. Her specialties include psychoeducation, emotional regulation, PTSD & trauma processing, exposure-response prevention, substance/alcohol abuse treatment, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, complicated grief, ADHD and OCD.
In addition to individual and group therapy, Melissa takes pride in her “family-first” orientation, showing success in helping couples and families break generational patterns of ineffective communication and maladaptive patterns of relating.
Crisis Intervention, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and positive parenting.
Melissa is a San Diego native, mother of 2 and Coach of her son’s competitive soccer team. Melissa enjoys spending quality time with loved ones while indulging in San Diego’s weather, beaches, campgrounds, hiking trails, and restaurants. Melissa’s familial ties to the service members instilled a respect and admiration for the true sacrifices active duty and their families endure while serving our country. Melissa actively engages with military family support organizations throughout the county, veteran-owned National City Jiu Jitsu Club and veteran-presence Alliance Eastlake Foundation.
“You are the Protagonist of your own Life Story. In you lie the tools to create a life well worth living.”
