ABOUT THE THERAPIST

Melissa Garthwaite received her M.A. in Existential Phenomenological Psychology from Seattle University in 2001 and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Southern Maine in 1997. Melissa is a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington and a child mental health specialist. Her experience includes providing individual and family therapy to adults, adolescents, and children as well as supervising graduate students and post-graduate therapists. She facilitated therapeutic art groups and is a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor (RPT-S.) Melissa founded the Washington Association for Play Therapy in 2008 and served as its president for 2009 and 2010. In addition, she has been an early childhood mental health consultant for Headstart, supervised residential staff in a treatment facility for adolescents, and provided a variety of community based services to individuals and families in the Seattle area since 1998.

Experience includes working with individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, grief/loss, abuse, trauma, bipolar disorder, ADHD, attachment problems, relationship problems, divorce, stress management, anger management, personal growth, developmental disabilities, family of origin concerns, and behavioral problems.