We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Medina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melissa, appreciate you joining us today. Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?

As a previous aspiring associate therapist, I had the privilege to experience an eclectic collection of lessons and opportunities. I have held the opportunity to work with various mental health communities. Each and every single intern experience has taught me a lesson and has shaped my progress in essentially becoming a better therapist. My first experience began interning at an eating disorder residential facility, Being apart of a treatment team to help clients combat an eating disorder taught me how highly important our mind, body and soul are inter-connected. Learning from eating disorder professionals, I was exposed to the inner workings of the mind through research and clinical education, and implementation of evidenced based interventions. Alongside learning foundational therapy skills by conducting individual and group therapy, I also learned the importance of embodying wellness through intuitive and mindfulness eating and healthy body movement. By the end of internship, I gathered my therapy tools and placed them in toolkit. In my associate therapist journey, my next venture was working for community mental health at a wellness center. I was a bilingual associate therapist that had the opportunity to work with client’s facing depression, anxiety, bipolar, and relationship distress. I had the privilege to be supervised by a wonderful psychologist and one of the most important lessons that I learned was that the client-therapist relationship was a crucial element that shapes healthy and therapeutic progress. Building rapport with my client’s is a way to demonstrate safety, empathy, honesty and respect, this allows clients to face difficult problems. At the same time, my supervisor employed me at an assisted living facility that housed patients with severe mental health. The patients taught me that sense of humor, creativity, humility, empathy and teamwork were the cornerstone to healthy relationships. It was quite a unique and one of a kind experience. I felt honored and privilege to be part of the team. Assembled with tools and experiences, my last associate therapist journey was at private practice. I worked with young adults and families. This experience taught me the fundamentals of therapist individuality, boundaries and imperative clinical judgement.
Consequently, I was offered the opportunity to establish the ultimate goal and embark on my own private practice journey, alongside two psychologists I previously worked with. This gave me the confidence to take a risk and step into the world of private practice on my own.

Melissa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My passion for wellness began while I was finishing college and had to learn how to manage my own anxieties. That’s when l learned that embodying a wellness lifestyle helped promote my own self-love, creativity, life balance and altered my energy to only focus on what was really important to me, which included my personal and professional goals, social relationships and traveling. Implementing a wellness lifestyle into my everyday, has shape my life into a more successful and happier existence. With a little self-care, travel, physical movement, and social connectedness, this is how I nurture my inner- peace and calm. In my private practice, I whole heartedly believe that a therapeutic relationship holds the foundation to help uncover and untangle the many layers we carry to survive in our life. My passion is working with adults who profoundly want to rediscover and dismantle their own layers, traumas and attachment injuries while bringing in wholeness and wellness into their everyday life.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

One of the most effective strategies to grow clientele is by networking. Meeting professionals in your field can help create a referral source. In addition, a great resource tool can stem from professionals with parallel professions. I am a License Marriage and Family Therapist, and connecting and building relationships within wellness communities is essential. This can include mindfulness, yoga and/or meditation communities, school educators, psychiatrists, social workers, nutritionists, fitness communities, and much more.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

One of the most important foundations in building my reputation is staying true to myself, my core values and career goals. I continue the same work ethic as I had when I first started. My mind is open to new information, feedback, critical thinking, flexibility and adjustments. In addition, I continue to learn from my clients, they teach me a lot about life, as well as my colleagues in my profession. My process is about evolving, learning, diversity, growth, and traveling the globe.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.melissamedinalmft.com/
• Instagram: @melissamedinalmft

Image Credits
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