The New Face at Halcyon: A Little Bit About Me and How I Can Help

by Melissa Miller, PhD

Hello! I am Dr. Melissa Miller, a licensed clinical psychologist and the newest member of the Halcyon Therapy Group! I am so thrilled to be a part of this amazing group and its efforts to replace an outdated and non-client centered approach to mental health care. Halcyon’s mission of providing clients with increased access to their clinician, along with flexible scheduling and highly personalized care that is conveniently accessed online, aligns closely with my professional values. I strongly believe that finding excellent mental health care and being able to have easy, regular contact with your clinician should not be the exception, but rather the rule. 

With over a dozen years of experience as a psychologist working across academic medical centers, private practice, and telehealth settings, I am excited to share and grow my expertise with Halcyon. I specialize in working with adults, particularly women, who are struggling to manage anxiety and trauma. Interestingly enough, I arrived at this area of specialization by no active decision on my part but rather through circumstance. I began my career working with children and teens and began realizing that, once their struggles had resolved, I was often moving on to work with the mothers of my clients on how to address their own underlying anxiety, worry, stress, and/or trauma. It became clear to me that mothers were oftentimes so understandably invested in helping their children that they often neglected their own mental health in the process. Once I, along with friends around me, began moving into parenthood ourselves, I became even more personally invested in women’s mental health issues, including fertility/infertility, pregnancy loss, and perinatal and postpartum mental health. I felt strongly that my personal lived experience, as well as my observation of the lived experiences of other women in my life, provided me with a deep level of understanding and empathy for what my clients were going through in their own lives.

As a result of my clinical and lived experiences, I made the active decision to seek out additional specializing training for these topics of interest. I have completed advanced training in the treatment of anxiety and currently operate as a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional. I have also completed a number of other specialized trainings related to women’s reproductive mental health. These trainings have provided me with a unique skillset to help women who are struggling with infertility, miscarriage/stillbirth, and perinatal/postpartum anxiety and depression. All too often, women facing these challenges suffer in silence and shame. I consider it a privilege to provide women with a safe space in which to process their concerns and learn effective strategies to manage, and ultimately overcome, their mental health struggles.

When you work with me, you can expect a warm, positive, nonjudgmental, collaborative, and customized approach to treatment. Although I have expertise that I am ready and willing to share to help you feel better, I also believe that you are an expert on you. That means that working together we will be in the best position to identify a treatment plan that works for you. Once we begin our work together, we will maintain an open and ongoing dialogue regarding your thoughts about treatment and associated progress.  We will make any adjustments to our treatment plan as you and I deem necessary. Throughout our time together, I will work to build up your hope and confidence that change is possible so that by the end of treatment you feel strong and empowered to keep building off of the gains you’ve made over the course of treatment.

In closing, I’d like to share some of the overarching philosophies in my therapy practice: I believe that you deserve to feel better. I believe that there is no shame in asking for help. I believe that change is possible when you allow yourself the space to do the work. I believe that sometimes small steps in the right direction end up being the biggest steps in the end. I believe that people underestimate their ability to change. It’s possible to change. It’s possible to enjoy life again.

If you or someone you know is struggling and any aspect of my therapeutic specialities and/or approach resonates with you, please don’t hesitate to reach out today. I would welcome the opportunity to have a brief introductory call with you to learn more about your needs and how I might be able to help.