Treatment Focus:

Specializes in adolescent and young adult concerns relating to depression, anxiety, relationship functioning.

Bio:

Melissa joined Christian Family Solutions in 2020 as an intern when she was getting her Masters in Social Work from UW-Milwaukee. Melissa currently is an Advanced Practice Social Worker. Her longer term goal is to gain her Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Prior to working with Christian Family Solutions, she worked on a child and adolescent inpatient unit as a group leader. Melissa has been working with children, teenagers, and their caregivers in many capacities: as a home visitor, case manager, daycare worker, youth group leader, inpatient hospitalization, outpatient counseling, and now as a program therapist at the STRONG program.

Melissa strongly values collaboration and community. She believes best practice includes a team of supporters surrounding the teenage or child client to encourage strong treatment outcomes. Melissa believes that each client has strengths that exist within them and counseling can be a way to grow and build upon those strengths and resources. One of her main counseling focuses is to help her clients build a repertoire of skills related to interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, communication, and self-advocacy to enhance capacities for goal achievement and overall success. She highly values a therapeutic relationship based on honesty, trust, openness, and genuineness.