Dr. Melissa McDaniel
Licensed Clinical Psychologist PSY30567
Psychotherapy for individuals
and couples
I am offering Telehealth, so that you can receive high quality, confidential treatment at home.
I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years of experience accompanying adults through emotional pain, relationship struggles, and times of profound change. I bring warmth, curiosity, and deep respect for the inner life of each person I meet. I want to understand what brings you to therapy, what you have carried, what matters to you, and what you hope might become possible.
I work with adults experiencing anxiety, depression, grief, anger, low self-esteem, eating disorders, psychosis, OCD, and addiction, as well as difficulties with intimacy and relationships. I also support couples in tending to the hurts that have come between them, repairing ruptures, and finding their way toward greater understanding and connection.
I specialize in trauma, from single overwhelming events to the cumulative effects of painful experiences and complex relational wounds. My areas of expertise include childhood abuse, grief and loss, identity, existential concerns, life transitions, creative blocks, codependency, and people-pleasing. Together, we can make room for experiences that have been difficult to speak about and parts of yourself that may have had little opportunity to be known.
My work is grounded in contemporary psychoanalytic thought, Intersubjective Systems Theory, and Depth Psychology. These perspectives inform my attention to your relationships, your history, and the deeper patterns and meanings within your life. At the heart of my practice is a belief in the healing possibilities of a relationship where your feelings can be met with empathy, compassion, and understanding.
Thank you for taking a moment to get to know me. I look forward to hearing your story and accompanying you as you find greater compassion for yourself, connection with others, and room for a life that feels more fully your own.
My Approach
My clinical training is rooted in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy, with a particular emphasis on Intersubjective Systems Theory—a contemporary, relational approach to understanding emotional life. This non-pathologizing perspective considers your feelings and experiences within the context of your life: your relationships, early and present environments, painful experiences, and the deeply held beliefs that shape how you understand yourself and others.
Trauma can arise from a single overwhelming event or accumulate through repeated experiences of hurt, disconnection, or unmet emotional needs. My approach offers a relationship grounded in consistent empathy, emotional attunement, compassionate curiosity, and deep understanding. Together, we make room for feelings that may have been difficult to bear alone, allowing them to be explored and processed at a pace that respects your needs.
I will help you develop a more compassionate understanding of your experience, make painful feelings more bearable, and open space for new ways of relating to yourself and others.
My therapeutic approach is warm, intuitive, and nonjudgmental, rooted in my belief that understanding someone requires looking deeply into their experience. My goal is to provide an emotionally safe space for you to begin processing your feelings and identifying unmet needs. Together, we will bear witness to your struggles, past and present. A deeper awareness of your feelings and needs can help heal old wounds and create a foundation for a more vital, authentic life.
I believe we need opportunities to process painful experiences within relationships where we feel heard and understood. When that support is missing, emotional pain can become difficult to bear and may find expression through symptoms. These symptoms often bring people to therapy, asking for our attention through the suffering they create.
Many of us learn to push down painful feelings in order to get through overwhelming experiences. This is especially understandable when we lack the emotional support we need to feel and process them. What we set aside to survive may continue to affect how we feel about ourselves, move through the world, and relate to others.
Unprocessed emotional pain can contribute to depression, anxiety, and other difficulties, alongside other influences in a person’s life. In our work, we will take time to understand your particular experience and the ways you have learned to cope. Feelings that have long been buried or held alone can begin to find a safe place to be felt and understood.
I will help you explore, process, and begin to make bearable the painful feelings you are experiencing. As we develop a deeper understanding of what you carry, we can work toward relief from symptoms and greater freedom in your life and relationships.
You are welcome here regardless of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, ability, immigration status, or religion.
