“An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being”
– The Mother
As a Licensed Professional Counselor who has spent well over a decade working with eating disorder clients, as well as her own journey, her interest in nutrition, and because of her background in endurance sports, she decided it was time to pursue her interest in nutrition with her own education. As a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Melissa has training in over 100 dietary theories and has sat under world leaders in the holistic health such as Andrew Weill, Deepak Chopka, Christine Northrup, David Wolf and Donna Gates. She believes that no person is the same and therefore no food plan is the same. She holds to a theory of bio-individuality and also a “no-diet” zone. She believes in food as fuel for life and can and should be enjoyed. What works for one person, may not work for another.
We live in a world that when the slightest symptom such as anxiety or depression occur, the first thing that happens is you are given a pill. And while that may need to be the first course of action, it also may not have to be. Our Society is over-medicated. Melissa believes that in some cases simple changes in your dietary habits can lift presenting symptoms both emotionally and physically. She also believe that one needs to work through these kinds of issues within the context of relationship where there is a safe and sacred space, and the therapist is trusted to facilitate the exploration of the deeper meaning so as to heal, verses just solving the problem of the symptom.
Her aim is to combine her extensive background in psychotherapy with her Holistic Health Coaching degree to find ways in which true food, real food, can be the medicine and medication would not needed. Her belief that many, if not all symptoms, both emotional and physical can be healed through the healing agent of food sets her apart from many other psychotherapists. Again, with a bio-individual approach to the symptoms, her goal is to get to the root cause. Without solving the problems of the cause, the symptoms just persist.
