Melissa is a warm and nonjudgmental psychologist who uses humour and kindness to build a compassionate rapport with clients.
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She has worked in the public health system, the Department of Education and private practice for over 10 years. Those very different services provided exposure to a breadth of clinical experience. Melissa initially worked as a Paediatric Psychologist in multidisciplinary teams before returning to working with adults too.
 
She is especially interested in perinatal psychology, including postnatal depression and anxiety and infant mental health. She continues her multidisciplinary work through her Autism assessments and by working closely with client’s care teams to understand the child as a whole person. Melissa worked with the Tuning into Kids research program at Mindful and has worked in childhood obesity research. Her research interest in the parenting of emotions carries into her ongoing clinical work.
 
Melissa’s goal is to help her clients better understand their internal world and to feel empowered to make the best of their strengths. She adapts her therapeutic modalities to meet client goals and wants her clients to feel a sense of agency in their therapy. When working with children and families she aims to help parents to understand and communicate about the inner world of the child and to use a family strength based approach to help children regulate their own emotions.
 
Melissa can usually be seen around the office in mismatching prints...she lets her cat pick her clothes!