Hi, I’m Melissa short
Hi, I’m Melissa — I’m a mom, wife, and someone whose life is deeply shaped by my faith in Jesus, and by a belief in gentle healing and hope.
I am not a life coach or a therapist. My work is deeply informed by training influenced by leading trauma experts and by personalized mentorship from licensed mental health professionals. What makes my approach unique is the integration of lived experience, trauma training, and a peer-to-peer relational approach.
My passion for this work comes from my own healing journey. For years I wrestled with thinking, “what’s wrong with me?! Why can’t I just move forward?! Why does everything feel so much harder than it should?” Can you relate?
Through trauma-informed healing, I learned that real change doesn’t come from trying harder or beating ourselves up — it comes from learning to feel safe, connected, and compassionate toward yourself.
Now, as a Certified Trauma Support Specialist (read more about my training here) I walk alongside women as they rediscover their strength, peace, and God-given capacity to heal. I believe healing happens in relationship — in spaces of safety, care, and honesty — and I consider it sacred work to hold space for that process.
When I’m not coaching, you can usually find me outdoors—hiking, chasing waterfalls, or kayaking with my family. I’m a California girl turned Carolina girl, and I love it. A few of my favorite things include Mexican food, red velvet cake, and La Croix.
At home, I enjoy a quieter pace of life. Deep conversations, slow walks, and the occasional nap remind me to pause, breathe, and be present. I characterize myself as an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) which I believe is a strength and bring to my work with my clients.
Whether you are just passing through or you book a call so we can meet, I am so glad you stopped by!
~Melissa
My Story
After a very traumatic season in life, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t able to move forward. While the experience, the location, and even the relationships from that season in my life were in the rearview mirror, it was as if that experience was still with me.
So I did all the things I knew to do; I prayed, forgave those that harmed me, tried to let go, tried harder to move forward, sought counseling and inner healing. And while those things helped, there was still something missing. I was still struggling. The un-resolve of these issues led to years of on and off cycles of depression, burnout, overwhelm and toxic stress.
My emotions overwhelmed me constantly. Avoidance and reactivity were normal parts of living. I felt frustrated, alone in my experience, and without support. Parts of me shut down for years. I didn’t realize how the culmination of those events caused me to reorganize my whole life differently. It felt like time froze and valuable years of my life were disappearing while I just stayed stuck.
In 2020 it all came to a breaking point for me. I needed help. My desire for answers led me to finally deciding I needed to try something different. I was taught that psychology and traditional therapy were self-centered and simply just behavior modification that wouldn’t help me. So I was very cautious and guarded but, I decided to meet with a therapist.
My therapist specialized in IFS (Internal Family Systems) Psychotherapy and it was there that I began to understand that I had unresolved Trauma and actually began to heal from it. I understood that the imprint of what happened in the past was still affecting my present as if it were still happening. I learned that it wasn’t something defective or wrong with me that prevented me from moving forward, or a lack of faith. But that my body and my brain were responding normally as they should, to protect me.
I came to understand that when our wounds are unattended to, we live out of our survival responses (trauma responses). I discovered how when I tend to the wounded parts of me instead of against them by trying to get them to go away, I actually found relief and healing I desired. I didn’t realize that simply just talking about the events over and over were keeping me stuck. I didn’t know there was more than one way to heal. I gained new ways to approach pain, stress, and challenges that have expanded my capacity to handle adversity.
As a result of my healing, I am embracing who I am and learning to take a kinder approach to myself. I have more peace and am making progress in my life that is sustaining and not fleeting with every wind and wave. Things aren’t perfect and healing doesn’t make the hard stuff go away. But healing has enabled me to live a better life.
That’s why I do this work. I believe in it and I have experienced it. I know it works and I know it can help other women like me too!
My Approach
INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS
Is an evidence based psychotherapy model, created by Dr. Richard Schwartz. Internal Family Systems is powerfully transformative. In this model the belief is that our minds are naturally multiple, meaning we have many parts to that make up the system of who we are (not the same as multiple personalities).
In IFS we befriend these parts. We realize that protective parts of us developed as a way to help us survive or get through really overwhelming experiences.
We don’t often realize the inner dialogue we have going on all the time with these parts of us. For example;
“A part of me feels really angry at this person who hurt me and wants to tell them how I feel, another part of me feels like I am making a big deal and should just drop it. “
Another example could be;
“A part of me really wants to quit my job, and another part of me is afraid I am not capable to fins something better”
IFS helps us make sense of these different parts of us. Often parts of us are running the show of our lives, instead of our authentic selves. These parts reveal some of the stuck places and patterns we keep repeating.
Through parts work we can safely and gently process emotions, offload false beliefs, and help reintegrate the parts of you and your story that trauma and painful past experiences may have impacted.
MIND-BODY APPROACH
The essence of trauma is disconnection. Trauma disconnects us from an awareness of what’s going on in our bodies and out of being present.
Rebuilding trust within yourself and your body is a very important part of Trauma Recovery. Without this piece the nervous system still perceives that you are not safe, even when you are.
We experience trauma and painful past learning in our bodies (stored through sensory fragments our 5 senses).The path towards to healing involves incorporating mind-body awareness as we heal.
Trauma literally changes our brains and our physiology. Trauma is an on going experience in your body. This is based on research we now have from neuroscience and brain scans.
The good news is that we now know that our brains have Neuroplasticity, which means they can heal! As the body feels safer, the mind can too. 80% of your emotions are coming from your body to the brain. Only 20% are going from the brain to the body. This is why trying to change your thoughts doesn’t work with a body that doesn’t feel safe.
I will teach you simple, small ways to build this mind-body connection back and help you find more calm, centered-ness, and autonomy.
CHRISTIAN FAITH-OPTIONAL
If you are a Christian and would like to integrate your faith into our time together, we can absolutely do that. I follow your leading in this and will ask you questions early on in our initial sessions to see what kind of support you are looking for.
This is a non-judgmental space to share anything in regards to your faith journey. Anger, doubt, questioning, lament, and fears are a normal part of being human and our faith journeys. When you are given room and space to be where you are at, without religious pressure, beautiful healing work can unfold.
I have a specific training in Spiritual abuse, Religious Trauma, and High-Control Groups. I know how hard it is to come out of those systems, and the damaging impact it can leave on people’s lives. I can help guide you in making sense of your process.
Instead of spiritual platitudes for real pain, I offer warmth, compassion, and empathy. I respect where each person may be at. Whether you are reconstructing healthier beliefs, deconstructing toxics ones, or aren’t sure where you are landing yet, you have a place here.