My Approach to Helping
We all thrive in a safe, calm, judgment-free space where we care accepted, loved and nurtured exactly as we are. 'Good therapy' provides all of these and connects you with your true Self - the Self you came into this world knowing and being, before the world around you caused you to disconnect.
I am deeply committed to providing counseling and therapy for Women of all ages, backgrounds and belief systems, all identities and orientations. I specialize in Disordered Eating including Emotional Eating and Binge Eating, LGBTQ Issues including Coming Out Later in Life and I frequently work with Women who are questioning their sexual orientation. Anxiety, Depression, Relationship Stress, Work Stress and Trauma account for much of my practice. Resolving Family of Origin issues will likely be an important part of the work we will do together. Once Family of Origin issues and trauma are resolved, it becomes possible to return to the whole Self you came into this world being.
The foundation of my approach is Psychodynamic, or Insight-Oriented Therapy. Current research shows that psychodynamic therapy is more effective than cognitive based therapies. Deeper trauma resolution requires that we also incorporate body-based, energy focused and other "non-talk" therapies into our work together such as Meditation, Mindfulness, Hypnosis, EFT Tapping, Progressive Counting and other somatic approaches.
Therapy presents us each with an opportunity to heal the wounds that prevent us from living more fully, and allows us to become more whole, more grounded and more powerful in our lives. Good therapy also provides you with concrete tools to take with you and use every day - on your own and outside of therapy.
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions you might have.
Warm regards, Melissa
More Info About My Practice
I am an Out of Network provider for all insurance plans.
I am happy to provide you with a Superbill for submission to your insurance provider directly.
60 minute therapy session - 240.00
Women's Coming Out Later in Life Group - 25.00
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
Trauma Resolution
Nobody likes the word 'trauma.' But life is traumatic and traumatizing for many people. Interpersonal relationships can be traumatic. Loss, in all its many forms can be traumatic. Life transitions can also be traumatic. Please know that trauma resolution is possible. Working with several body-based trauma resolution methods, trauma can be healed once and for all, setting you free from the never-ending distress you may be experiencing. My training in Meditation and Mindfulness, EFT Tapping, Hypnotherapy, Progressive Counting and other Somatic therapy approaches means that we will have several highly effective and evidence-based approaches to choose from in our work together.
Emotional Eating and Binge Eating
As you likely know by now, Emotional Eating is not about the food. It is about everything else. The work of healing Eating Disorders is about uncovering how your food and food-related behaviors are serving you, and helping you develop more effective ways of getting your needs met. It is not easy work, but the work is do-able, and you can recover from your disordered eating habits.
Coming Out Later in Life
Many Women explore and question their sexual orientation later in life. Current research indicates that more Women than men experience fluidity in their sexual orientation. Due to social and family expectations, many Women find themselves grappling with their sexual orientation later in life, after the end of a relationship or marriage or during some other significant life change. Regardless of the reasons you may be exploring your sexual orientation, you are welcome in my practice and at my free support group. Please let me know if you have any questions at all.
Family of Origin Issues
Working to understand the origins of your relationship with Self and with the world starts here. We absorb the messages we experience in our environment from the time before we are born. Psychodynamic therapy offers us an opportunity to examine our Family of Origin issues and develop greater clarity and understanding about the impact those experiences have had on us. It also provides us with a strong platform from which to create change.
Anxiety, Depression and Stress
What if there has never been anything wrong with you at all? What if there is nothing wrong with you now? What if the source of your distress is your belief that you are not deserving of what you really need and desire? If reading this paragraph causes you to become noticeably anxious or noticeably relieved, this may be a good starting place. It is for most all of us.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Getting reconnected to Self can have many paths. Meditation can take many forms and for those Women who are practiced at silence, disconnection and staying small, becoming grounded in your own body and being, moving your Energy, making sound and taking up space is profoundly healing. From deeper connection to Self comes agency and power in creating a meaningful and joyful life.
Importance of the Client-Therapist Alliance
The client-therapist relationship is unique in that its exclusive purpose is to meet your growth and healing needs. There are many unique characteristics of a healthy client-therapist relationship, and it is important that we connect on a human level as well as
in our work together.
A healthy and healing client-therapist relationship:
~ Is founded on human connection and resonance
~ Has a felt sense of trust, safety, openness and good will at its foundation
~ Begins with the therapist practicing only within their scope of expertise and always in the best interest of you, the client
~ Is absolutely confidential (See Informed Consent and HIPAA Notice for legally mandated exceptions.)
~ Has crystal clear, inviolable and non-negotiable boundaries
~ Is a primary, non-dual relationship (See Informed Consent and HIPAA Notice for details.)
~ Is a collaborative effort that works toward achieving your goals
~ Has the potential to resolve chronic and acute sources of emotional distress once and for all
~ Has the potential to facilitate and support emotional, psychological and spiritual growth
~ Has the potential (and the goal) to create lasting change in you, the client
~ Ends when you no longer experience the relationship as necessary or beneficial
Because conflicts of interest such as advocacy compromise the client-therapist relationship, I do not participate in:
~ Legal proceedings of any kind (divorce, custody, employment, disability, etc.)
~ Disability proceedings of any kind (private insurance, Social Security, claims issues, paperwork, etc.)
~ Arbitrations or mediations of any kind
~ Disclosure of any psychotherapy notes or of any medical records
~ Depositions, statements of record, or other non-legal proceedings
If you have any reasonable expectation of needing or desiring any of the above services, my therapy practice will not be a good fit for your needs.
Please reach out to me with any questions at all. For the fastest response time, please email me at melissa@melissalesterlcsw.com. I am looking forward to connecting with you.
Warm regards,
Melissa
