Melina is a firm believer that we are innately designed to heal and that taking a mind-body approach is essential in healing the effects of human experiences. Trauma steals our sense of safety, curiosity, competence, and sense of belonging, leaving us with symptoms of nervous system dysregulation and other (often) painful body manifestations. Using the gentle and titrated approach of Somatic Therapy, Melina addresses the underlying causes of these symptoms by encouraging the movement of stuck survival energies, renegotiating boundary breaches, and repairing attunement ruptures from early life moving clients towards wholeness and health. Melina has advanced training in therapeutic touch and includes this as a regular part of her practice.

Melina maintains a private practice in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada assisting individuals in the areas of trauma (developmental trauma, shock trauma, c-PTSD, PTSD), human development and attachment, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and addictions. Melina is a Registered Counsellor with the Canadian College of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists, a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) with the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute (SETI), a Somatic Touch Trauma Therapist and a registered Addictions Counsellor with the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Federation. She is a teaching assistant for the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, and is continuously honing her skills. Over the course of 2021, she will complete Steve Terrell’s Transforming the Experienced Based Brain (TEB) early developmental trauma touch training, as well as continuing with other advanced, specialized somatic therapy trainings.

Melina’s passion is to assist clients in feeling strong, safe, and resilient from an embodied nervous system perspective. She believes that mind and body are not just connected but are one in the same.