|  Hello, my name is Melissa Ellison. I live in a small community in eastern Washington. My time away from work is typically spent with my husband and our three year old daughter, as well as with other family and friends. Like many of you, my life can get quite busy so the opportunity to do counseling through this site made sense. I understand that sometimes the only opportunity someone has to do something for themselves is after most of the world has shut down for the day and on the weekends. I do not believe that someone's busy life should keep them from being able to seek counseling.
I earned my Masters of Education, with a specialization in counseling, in 1998 and have been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (License # LH00007030 Mental Health License Verification) in Washington State. I have spent my career working with children and families in their own homes, foster homes and residential settings. The families I've worked with have dealt with a variety of issues including grief and loss, attachment issues, abuse and neglect histories, depression, ADHD, trauma, anxiety disorders, and a variety of other mental health issues. Often, I work with parents to find different ways of working with behavior and how to best manage their stress and frustration. My work has been largely behavior modification, although I like to take an eclectic approach to counseling, using strength based and solution focused ideas whenever possible, setting goals and working from strengths to achieve these goals. My job has been not only to work with the child, but more, to work with and support the families, helping them to improve their mental health and skill base so they are better able to work with and support their children. Parenting is a tough job and I stress to families that we need many different skills to pull out of our parenting "toolbox" in order to best parent our children. It often takes trial and error, thus, having many techniques can make life easier on us. Additionally, anger management is critical to a healthy life. Without it, we are unable to effectively deal with what life throws our way.
My availability changes from week to week depending on my schedule, both at work and at home. Appointments outside of my posted schedule may be arranged upon request. My office phone number is 509-967-0911, I do not currently have an 800 number. I can do e-mail, chat, video, and phone (again I do not currently have an 800 number). |
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