Melissa has 12 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, adults and families across diverse settings: corrections, community-based not-for-profit services (childhood sexual assault; youth mental health; eating disorder support), private practice and hospitals. Working from a trauma-informed approach, Melissa has experience in counselling and group therapy, workshop facilitation, program development, and senior leadership roles. Melissa also worked in a suicide prevention commissioning role, providing strategic leadership for the co-design and implementation of services.

Melissa values that people are the experts in their own lives, and her framework is person-centered and relational, with a strong social justice perspective. Evidence based approaches include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

Melissa works in the eating disorder field co-facilitating hospital inpatient/outpatient groups. Melissa also provides suicide prevention/intervention supervision; and co-facilitates ‘STARS’ Protocol training for responding to suicidality (AISRAP). Melissa is very passionate about supporting early career and provisional psychologists to navigate their registration and professional life.

• Ethical, Professional and Legal Matters
• Supervising Decisions Relating to Mandatory Reporting
• Intervention and Treatment Planning
• Working with/in Schools
• Intervention with Trauma
• Working with Separated Families
• Risk Assessment
• Working with Children (5 - 12 yo), Adolescence (12 - 18 yo) and Late Adolescence (18 - 25 yo)
• Working with Adult 
• Eating Disorders
• Working with Survivors of Child Sexual Assault