Hello! My name is Melissa Childers-White. I am very excited about the opportunity to collaborate with you on BetterHelp as you seek life changes. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas. Regarding my educational background, I was a Philosophy major at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, with minors in Psychology and Spanish. I also studied abroad for a semester each in Spain and in Denmark, and traveled in over 30 countries around the world – which has really helped me connect with other cultures, peoples and ways of life. My Masters in Counseling Psychology is from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and included a counseling internship in medical, sex and cancer counseling. My goal in counseling will be to support you with empathy and without judgment to help you get to a place where you feel better, and to assist you in the solving of your challenges. We will focus on your inherent capacity to create your own growth and thrive and will develop a plan of action to meet your goals. My therapeutic approach is a holistic one where I blend elements from different approaches and tailor counseling according to each client’s unique needs. Tools like Socratic questioning, focusing on one’s self talk Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help you clarify your thinking, its origins, assumptions and then develop possible alternative viewpoints to provide forward movement. I feel that live sessions are a much better tool than text or chat for moving forward on issues. Together we will keep taking one step at a time, at a pace that you choose. I generally check messages on BetterHelp a few times a day between 10 am and 6 pm each day, Monday through Friday, (not on weekends). 10 -6 (CT) is also the time I have available for sessions. My toolbox for helping people has also benefited from a career path that has expanded outside of the traditional mental health pathway – helping me build problem-solving and communication skills and an out-of-the-box approach to thinking across a variety of fields. After a number of recent years spent pursuing a dream of mine to design and create art and run my own art studio – a very creative and intriguing endeavor that I will continue doing after hours – I felt strongly called to make more of a contribution to others again through counseling. I looked forward to returning to providing a compassionate ear, thoughtful feedback, and skills for patients to move forward in their lives. I’m fascinated to find that working with my local city government collaborating with others to tackle community issues, other volunteering in my community and children’s schools, my previous pursuit of art, my philosophy studies, my experience in travel/study abroad and my beginning to meditate as a college student all contribute to the thought processes I derive from my counseling foundation. I thoroughly enjoy the online platform for counseling and have found it to work well for my patients. My strengths are in the areas of Mindfulness, meditation, stress, anxiety, emotions, asserting healthy boundaries, self-talk and CBT, medical illness issues, sex and intimacy, cancer counseling, coping strategies, relationship/ divorce issues, motivation, self-confidence, depression, grief/loss, finding deeper issues at play, healthy lifestyle creation, life changes, positive psychology, communication skills, and coping strategies. My invitation to each patient to engage their brain to work with mine offers a synergy that patients appreciate and find helpful in their efforts to take responsibility for and improve their own mental health. I applaud your courage in reaching out for help with your current struggle and would love to be that counselor with whom you find a connection to help you create a more fulfilling and happier life. It would be an honor and a pleasure to work with you. Melissa Childers-White, M.A., L.P.C.