Women’s Therapy & Counseling

For almost 25 years, it has been my privilege to specialize in Women’s Therapy & Counseling across the lifespan. Combining traditional psychodynamic therapy with several types of body-focused work, I help women reclaim their lives from malaise, anxiety, depression, trauma, disordered eating, compulsive caretaking and many other challenges. Over the years, my practice has evolved to specialize in family of origin issues, trauma resolution, disordered eating, coming out later in life and, in a nutshell, getting back to Self.

You are more than the sum of your roles

What’s on your “To Do” list? Who’s on your “To Do” list? Family? Kids? Partner? Job? Bills? House? Friends? Pets? Are you – the essence of who you are – on your own “To Do” list? Is there room for you in your own life? Does it feel like you nurturing everyone and everything except your ‘Self?’

Why Women’s Therapy & Counseling?

Women’s burden in society is great. Societal and family expectations often are that we put others ahead of our Selves. And that we conform to and accept the limited supporting roles that family and society work hard to restrict us to. Rarely is it ok to dissent. And female ‘dissenters’ often find their support systems quickly withdrawn.

The price women pay for abandoning the Self takes a tremendous toll. We are diminished until we forget there is a Self. Eventually, we wake up physically and emotionally exhausted, energetically depleted, ill and/or unwell. Waking up, we feel confused about our purpose and the meaning of our lives. At our worst, we are joyless, depressed, hopeless, stressed, anxious and/or self-destructive. We don’t know how we got here, if we want to be here, or how to begin making change.

Good therapy and counseling is about guiding you back to your Self, to remembering lost parts of Self, and in some cases, discovering parts of Self for the very first time. It facilitates your own unique process and path and supports you as you build and strengthen your relationship with Self. And from there, everything gets clearer and clearer. Not necessarily easier. But absolutely clearer.

Where to begin?

It’s likely you have already begun asking yourself these life-changing questions. Simply by asking the questions, you have begun the process of building a better relationship with Self. The work of therapy begins when you realize you want to get “there” – even if you have no idea how or where “there” is. Reaching out to a professional you connect with is often the next step. It’s important that you work with a therapist who resonates with you, and who offers treatment methods that also resonate with you.

Working therapeutically with women gives my life tremendous meaning – women of all abilities, ethnicities, races, religions, sexual orientation and more. I look forward to working with you.

To contact me, please email me at melissa@melissalesterlcsw.com.