About Melanie Miles

Melanie Miles | BA

GRADUATE STUDENT COUNSELOR

Counseling for Adults (18+)

Melanie believes that healing happens in relationship through connection. Her passion in counseling is to co-create with each client, a relationship built on safety, trust, and hope. Melanie believes that healing, even from our deepest wounds, is possible. She brings this core belief to her work as a counselor, along with compassion and an attentive presence.  Melanie will seek to understand each individual holistically, including the stories that have shaped them and the strengths they already possess, to provide an individualized approach and honor the pace and progress that each client desires.

Melanie sees individuals (18+) and some areas of interest for her are grief and loss, relational concerns, coping with the challenges of life (both normal and extraordinary), religious or spiritual trauma, self-image, anxiety, and depression. She hopes for every client to gain a sense of meaning, drawing from their own stories and experiences. Melanie is pursuing a Master’s level certification in trauma response, and she is passionate about working with survivors of trauma, specifically adult survivors of sexual abuse, domestic violence, or childhood trauma.

Melanie brings a feminist, multicultural, and relationship focused approach to psychotherapy. Her therapeutic approach has been shaped by techniques that make space for attending and attuning to emotional responses, and embodied practices for increasing integration and mindfulness.  Melanie understands that many arrive in counseling seeking to change behavior that is causing unwanted disruptions or impairments; by utilizing an Internal Family Systems approach, she will work together with clients to shift how parts that feel pain are held and protected, while working towards self-compassion in order to reduce shame and unburden parts that hold wounds. While she seeks to integrate evidence-based care across multiple theories, at the forefront of her approach is the central importance of trauma informed care. With this in mind, she places an emphasis in the therapeutic relationship on empowerment, autonomy, and consent, in all aspects of care.

The bulk of Melanie’s professional background has been in community health and social services. She has eleven years of experience working as an advocate with survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and vulnerable populations. This work has uniquely equipped her with the skills to companion those who have experienced acute trauma, while holding a working understanding of the systems influencing individual resiliency. The incredible stories of hope she has witnessed doing this work, fuel her ongoing mission to complete education in trauma response in order to provide the highest level of care.

Melanie is a Vancouver, Washington “townie”. While she loves to travel and hopes to eventually see as much of this beautiful planet as possible in her lifetime, she loves calling the Pacific Northwest home, and resides in Vancouver where she grew up, met her husband, and is currently enjoying life with their two children and rescue pup “Eddie”. Melanie loves to camp and explore the outdoors with her family, read from almost any genre, and is a huge fan of her neighborhood dog park.

Education:

• Earning Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling from George Fox University with certification in Traumatology from the Trauma Response Institute at George Fox Graduate School of Counseling.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Mental Health from George Fox University.

Area’s of Interest:

• Domestic Violence
• Sexual Assault
• Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse
• Religious and Spiritual Trauma
• Social Justice
• Relationship Concerns
• Grief and Loss
• Trauma
• Post-trauma Sexual Health & Healing
• Self-Esteem & Self-Image
• Anxiety
• Depression