Waiting Room

Play Therapy

Play therapy is to children what counseling is to an adult. Play therapy utilizes a child’s most natural form of expression, play, to help them express their feelings and cope with difficult life situations. Although children do not have the cognitive abilities to express themselves through words, they can express themselves through the language of play. Melanie is a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor who has a therapeutic playroom where she provides services to children beginning at the age of three through eleven. Parent consultations will be scheduled throughout the course of the child’s counseling to discuss progress, concerns, and provide parent education and resources.

Activity Therapy

Activity therapy is counseling for preteens and adolescents where a client is engaged in therapeutic modalities such as games, art, play, and other structured therapeutic activities to express themselves, resolve conflicts, and learn more effective ways to cope with life challenges. Parent consultations will be scheduled throughout the course of the adolescent’s counseling to discuss progress, concerns, and provide parent education and resources.

Individual Counseling

In a one on one relationship, Melanie facilitates the exploration and resolution of personal problems and issues according to the needs of the individual. From the initial assessment, Melanie will listen carefully to the needs of the client and then in collaboration with the client, determine a treatment plan. Throughout the course of counseling, goals will be re-evaluated to ensure the counseling experience is meeting the needs of the client and working towards achieving success.

Areas of Specialty

Areas of specialty include, but are not limited to:

  • Abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, and verbal)
  • Domestic and family violence
  • Relationship issues
  • Divorce
  • Parenting
  • Separation anxiety
  • Anxiety or fears
  • Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Child abuse/neglect
  • Conduct disorder
  • Oppositional defiant disorder
  • Bullying
  • Personality disorders
  • Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Adjustment disorders
  • Foster care and adoption
  • Suicide and homicide ideation
  • Bereavement
  • Death and dying
  • Self-esteem
  • Self-mutilation
  • Trauma
  • Grief and loss
  • Elimination disorders (encopresis/enuresis)
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Postpartum depression
  • Attachment issues
  • Anger management (children, adolescents, and adults)
  • Conflict resolution