I have known Melissa for more than five years both as a friend and a life adviser. After I finished my degree and started a new job, I decided that I wanted some guidance in learning how to live a more stress-free, happy life. Melissa was a great fit for me because she is very trustworthy, an essential for those of us who are introverted. Having seen her make tremendous personal growth, I knew that she knew how to find balance in life personally. As it happened, she was able to guide me in finding my own balance. I had four sessions on the phone with Melissa. In the first session, we talked about what I wanted to accomplish and the patterns in my life that were no longer serving me. At the end of each session, she gave me homework, a series of exercises. At the beginning of each successive session we went over how the exercises worked and proceeded from there. She listened to my descriptions of the feelings the exercises invoked and tailored future "homework" appropriately. The structure of our phone conversations was loose enough for exploration, but it was clear that she was in touch with what I was experiencing and had a flexible but cerebral framework for guiding me. She tailored the sessions to my personal pace; she never made me feel rushed even if we ran over our scheduled time. As a result of my sessions with Melissa, I find it much easier to let go of everyday stress. Melissa is patient yet assertive, and has amazing ability to gently facilitate the personal growth needed to make changes when you are ready on your own. read more