I am Melissa Haney
Licensed Clinical Social Worker serving Austin, Texas and the surrounding areas.
I provide psychotherapy for people who want to make a change in the way they relate with their partner, family, friends, colleagues, the world, and with themselves. I help people who are looking for better ways to live life now. I help people who struggle with anxiety, depression, grief, and mood disorders. I help people who experience the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress, commonly known as PTSD. Together we will discover what keeps getting in the way and what you can do to live a more authentic and full life.
I BELIEVE…
Everyone desires and deserves to be truly heard. I have seen, and experienced, the amazing progress that happens when this takes place. I deeply connect with my clients as they look inside and ask the tough questions that spark the flames of personal and interpersonal growth. I believe therapy in not “one size fits all” and I will see you as the whole of your life and experiences. I believe that you are the expert in your life. I believe my role is to facilitate your discoveries and growth – to serve as your guide and to maintain an environment of safety and confidentiality.
WHAT CAME BEFORE AND HOW I BECAME A THERAPIST…
I had a vague idea when I was a teenager that when I grew up I wanted to become either a ‘child welfare worker,’ join the Peace Corps, or get married and have kids. A year after graduation I happily chose marriage to my high school sweetheart and we started a family. Over the next three decades I moved halfway across the country, divorced, remarried and became part of a successfully blended wonderful stepfamily, which led to becoming a mother-in-law and grandma. I had various sales jobs over those years that, while financially rewarding, were not gratifying for me in any other way. It was now my midlife and I was unhappy, dissatisfied, and distressed. Most of all, I felt shame for not being grateful for my ‘good’ life. It did not help that many around me, friends and family alike, told me the same thing. For the first time in my long experienced life, I walked into a therapists’s office for help. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but one of the most courageous and rewarding. It changed my life.
Within the first few months of what would be a continuous journey, I made the decision to earn my college degree. While considering my major, I shared the dreams and passions of that idealistic teenager with an Austin Community College counselor. She immediately pulled out a course plan for social work and the deal was sealed. I was no longer the kid who wanted to save the world. I was a mature adult who knew her limits and her true passion. I love people. I am curious. I like to know what makes them tick. I want to know how they got to this moment. I want to know their history so I can understand why they do what they do, think what they think, feel what they feel. I want to understand them so we can connect in an authentic and heartfelt way. I want to understand so I can help them find their way back to their true selves.
AND SO I CONTINUE(D) MY JOURNEY…
Within five years I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Social Work, starting my social work career at The South Texas Veterans Healthcare System in San Antonio and then Kerrville. I worked with veterans, many of them combat soldiers from as early as World War II, and their families. My assignments placed me in the medical and emergency room units, psychiatric units, and lastly at the outpatient Mental Health Clinic in Kerrville. It was at the outpatient clinic where I first did my extensive learning in the practice of trauma recovery. I have completed the three year training in Somatic Experiencing, as well as training in EMDR, and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Processing (AEDP). I recently trained in Dr. Brené Brown’s shame resiliency model and am a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator which allows me to present her work in a professional capacity. I have also studied in a consultation group with Dr. Bonnie Badenoch and completed five years of study for integrative marriage and family therapy with Dr. Carol Middelberg, PhD. I am a member of SETI(Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute), EMDRIA (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Institute of America), AinC (Austin in Connection), and NASW (The National Association of Social Workers).
