about
Welcome! I’m glad you're here. Choosing a therapist can be a life changing step in your recovery and mental health journey.
Melissa Simonini, MSW, LCSW
I am Melissa, a passionate therapist and believer in recovery.
My goal is helping people find safety in their mind, body, and spirit through evidenced based practices and a trusting therapeutic relationship.
My personal journey into the mental health field is a result of my own grief recovery and experiencing both sides of active addiction (having a substance use issue myself and being affected by loved ones who have had substance use issues).
Through seeking out therapy, holistic healing practitioners, and 12 step programs, I cultivated strategies that enabled me to create an enriched life worth living.
As a firm believer in therapy, I do this work because I have found it to be effective, empowering, and life changing. We all have the ability to overcome challenges. Therapy can help by providing new perspectives and normalizing the sometimes difficult life experiences we all face.
I consider myself to use an integrative approach with various therapeutic and healing techniques guided by the unique situation that is presenting in a session.
Outside of the virtual therapy room, I am a wife and mother. I enjoy many interests within the arts, music, writing, gardening, cooking, travel, holistic health, and relationships. I love to learn new things and I attend trainings on various topics.
I am a strong advocate for suicide prevention, addiction recovery, and human rights.
My intention in therapy is to provide a safe space and a trusting therapeutic relationship from which to share skills, education, and work toward your unique goals.
I have experience and training in the following areas:
-Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (5+ years of work on a DBT team in a hospital setting) completed training from Dr. Essie Larson
-Trauma: attachment styles, nervous system education & regulation, Polyvagal theory.
-Addiction recovery: 12 steps, DBT, harm reduction & abstinence based models.
-Mindfulness & meditation
-Internal Family Systems therapy
-Structural family therapy
-Compassion-focused therapy
-Motivational Interviewing
Education:
-Bachelor degree of Arts in Music, Rowan University
-Masters of Social Work in clinical practice with families and children, Monmouth University