I believe in therapy that holds science and soul together. One that honors your unique story, while giving you real tools tofind your footing again.
Healing asks more of us than just managing symptoms and getting back to normal. It asks us to get curious about our pain, honor what we've lost, and discover who we're becoming on the other side of change.
I'm most passionate about working with people navigating anxiety, chronic pain, loss, and the upheaval of life transitions, experiences I know intimately from my own journey. But really, I’d be honored to work with anyone who is curious enough to ask the hard questions, ready to understand themselves more deeply, and longs for a meaningful life.
Hi, I'm Melanie.
My Story
For nearly twenty years I worked in international humanitarian aid with USAID and partner organizations in Liberia, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, and China. It was meaningful work, and my whole identity was woven into it.
In 2019, I had two concussions. The pain and fatigue that followed were severe enough that I couldn't read more than a few lines of text. I lost much of my vision. I lost my career. I lost the sense of self I had spent two decades building. It was the hardest season of my life.
What pulled me through was a combination of things: Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy, contemplative practice, good therapy of my own, and a slow process of learning to be with myself differently. I experienced real, meaningful symptom reduction. I went on to graduate school at Naropa University, listening to readings through accessibility tools, moving through brain fog, still disabled, and I finished. I now practice as a therapist, part-time.
I still consider myself disabled. I'm still healing. I'm not speaking to you from the finished other side of this story. I’m speaking from inside an ongoing process. I think that matters.
Why I Do This Work
If it weren't for the approaches I found during my recovery, I probably wouldn't be well enough to practice therapy today. This means I'm not offering you something I learned in a classroom and moved on from. I'm offering you something still alive in my own life.
I'm drawn to clients who are motivated, curious, and ready to try something new, especially those who sense that what they're dealing with is bigger than a single diagnosis or a single hard event. I have particular warmth for civil servants, USAID workers, and mission-driven professionals who have lost careers they gave their lives to. I understand that particular kind of grief intimately, and I’m here to hold space for it.
A Little More About Me
I live in Boulder and spend a lot of time outside hiking, photographing the mountains and aspens—being reminded that nature has a lot to teach about loss, renewal, and the unexpected beauty that follows a hard season. That's where the name Aspenglow came from.
I'm a contemplative at heart, shaped by Buddhist practice, Christian mysticism, Jungian psychology, and a Quaker-inspired circle of trust that walked with me through my darkest years. I also lost my father at a relatively young age, an early introduction to grief, and to the gift of walking alongside someone in the dark.
— HOW I WORK
I don't work from a rigid protocol. Every session is shaped around what you actually need that day.
In the therapy room, I like to draw on somatic work, Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, and depth-focused contemplative and transpersonal traditions. For clients with chronic pain or illness, my primary approaches are Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy, both evidence-based methods for neuroplastic pain and the emotional patterns that sustain suffering.
For those who are open to it, I also love bringing the larger questions into the room. What this suffering means, who you might be becoming on the other side of it. The spiritual and soulful dimensions of experience are here for those who want to go there. And for those who don't, we don't. Nothing is required. Everything is welcome.
Credentials
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MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Naropa University (mindfulness-based transpersonal counseling); MA in East Asian Studies, Harvard University; BA in Political Science, Wellesley College
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Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate — Colorado License #LPCC.0024389 · Expires 12/31/27
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Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
Somatic Therapy
Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
Let’s Work Together
If something here resonated, I'd love to hear from you! A free 15-minute consultation is a gentle, no-pressure place to begin. You don't need the right words or a clear plan. Just enough courage and curiosity to reach out.