Melissa Portell Berrios
Master’s Level Clinician
We live in a world that is constantly on the go. It does not teach us how to express our real emotions.
We miss the connection of our emotions, body and mind because “we need to keep it together” unfortunately, our emotions will catch up.
Working with me is like going into your own safe space where you can sit in silence or freely express yourself by using different mediums. These mediums can be drawing, painting, singing or body movements. Some people are comfortable talking about deep things and shallow things, others do not want to talk at all, but sometimes we need more than talking.
Our body remembers all the good and the bad times it has experienced.
The first step is to connect, recognize, and be aware of it. Connecting our body symptoms to certain scenarios can be helpful in understanding yourself. Sometimes trembling, cold hands, barely breathing or sweating are signs that our body is trying to say something. Learning to know your body response can help us to release the pain/stress and self regulate.
In the middle of a world that feels crowded and noisy, here you have a serene place where you do not have to have it together, it is okay not to be okay. This is a space dedicated only to you where you are the center of attention and will be heard without judgement. You will have a space to be your unique self, the person that you are afraid to be outside because you may be misunderstood.
At the end of our session, I want you to feel like you are unique but you are not alone in your journey. I want you to leave knowing that you are validated and supported.
After the dark moments and losses that I have experienced in my life, therapy was like a blindfold that had been taken off and so I want to share these helpful tools with others. I am passionate about guiding people into knowing themselves on a deeper level because the key to be able to go through life difficulties is within us.
Having lost a pet myself, I also have a passion for helping people navigate through the loss of their four paw family member. I lost my sweet four legged partner after being together for fourteen years and in my grieving process, I developed a project to remember her by to this day. I like to help people turn their grief into a purpose and be able to honor those we lost and for the people that did not get a chance to meet them, know about them.
Education and Trainings
Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Richmont Graduate University
Certified Grief Movement Guide
Trained, Introduction to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Trained, Compassion Stress Management (Green Cross)
Areas of Focus
Grief Movement: The use of movement, breath, and sound to guide people to transform the heaviness of trauma, grief, and anxiety into empowerment and love by understanding and accepting the connection of body, mind and emotions.
Life Transitions: Coping with moving to a new city, dealing with uncertainty, adjusting to major life events.
Grief/Loss: The loss of a loved one/pet, a significant relationship, or a life that never happened.
Anxiety: Understand and identify tools to manage anxiety, identify needs for a self care routine combining mind and body.
Dating and Singleness: Relationship guidance, support for individuals navigating the complexity of dating, managing expectations, building healthy relationships with themselves and others, explore their past relationships to understand the present ones and understand their personal needs and goals.
Theoretical orientations
Holistic Approach
Psychodynamic Theory
Attachment Theory
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
*Under Supervision of Victoria Hicks, LPC, LMFT, CPCS
**Bilingual in English and Spanish**
