About Therapy with Me
Avoiding therapy leaves issues unresolved.
“Sure, my childhood was not ideal. I mean, my parents hated each other and showed it. They took it out on each other and then on me. But I’m over it. What good will come of rehashing it?”
“I’ve seen so much. I’ve always conformed to the mantra ‘Get over it.’ I feel I can go on without talking about it. Therapy? Heck, no!”
“My problem is my performance, not my trauma. How can therapy fix my creativity?”
“We’ve tried couples therapy before. It works, but it’s temporary. Why try again?”
Fear and doubt creep in.
“I now have no choice but to say this isn’t working anymore. Life has slowed to a halt. It is losing all meaning. All my options seem depleted, and there is no way out. Maybe it’s time to consider other options.”
Therapy is the answer.
Coming to see me might be your first inquiry into therapy. Alternatively, it may not be your first time. But I can guarantee therapy will not be what you expect.
Come on in. Color will greet you because color adds life to black and white. Grab a cup of coffee. Put your feet up if you want, or leave them down. Curl up on the couch if you’d like. Sit where you feel most at ease. Therapy is about you. It’s about your nervous system. Where you sit, how far away you sit, and at what angle you sit determines how safe you feel.
The first session is about getting to know each other. Our nervous systems will interact as we become comfortable with this new relationship. Your nervous system needs to feel safe before digging into the hard stuff.
During subsequent sessions, we will delve into the problem. You’ll have a chance to contribute to your treatment plan and direction for therapy. Then, we start working. We use timelines of your life, map out your nervous system states, and process through new cutting-edge brain-based therapy.
Talk therapy is not the only way.
You will quickly find that talking is not always the way to healing. Healing is brain-based, and the verbal part of the brain is not where trauma is stored. Talking soothes the spirit but doesn’t heal the down-deep injuries you have sustained. What does? We access the part of the brain where trauma is stored. How?
Enter your eyes! Your eyes are windows into your soul. A newer brain-based therapy called Brainspotting uses your eye position to gain access to each traumatic memory. Every memory corresponds to a different eye position. Every eye position is a laser beam piercing into memory, enabling you to live your life fully again. Talking through this process is an option, not a requirement.
You will also get to know yourself better and why you say, do, and think as you do. I will teach you that your Fight, Flight, or Freeze responses are unique to you and your experiences. You’ll map out your responses and learn to notice and name each to recognize how to return to a grounded state. At any point, you will begin to see what you feel in your body and how it corresponds to your emotional feelings.
Therapy is not forever.
Your trauma is an injury, and injuries will heal. As part of your initial session, you will identify areas of need and specific traumas that need healing. You will find that your list is not exhaustive. Once we reach the end, unless new trauma emerges, therapy is over. You WON’T be paying me forever.
About Melinda Siders, LMFT
I recovered from my traumas, and so can you.
I’m Melinda but feel free to call me Mindy. I have suffered, too, and as a young mom, years of past trauma brought me to my knees. I couldn’t function any longer. I was no longer the loving wife and mom that I wanted to be. I couldn’t work, and people told me I was beyond help.
But here I am. I’m a THERAPIST who knows there is hope. How do I know? I beat the odds. I know you can do it, too. I didn’t beat it through talking. I beat it through brain-based therapy that reached into my injuries and healed them.
That’s why I teach about the brain and the body. That’s why I use interventions that delve deeply into the part of the brain where trauma is stored. I know they work because they worked for me. I would never try something on you that had not worked to bring me back to the land of the living.
Let me give you a little background.
I am a previous Spanish teacher who left teaching to be a mother. When my children were very young, I suffered unthinkable memories and went through a very dark time, followed by healing. It was then I decided to go back to school. I graduated with an MA in Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy and became certified as a culturally competent First Responder therapist shortly after.
Certified in Brainspotting and trained in EMDR, my practice evolved into a trauma-informed practice. I also became Polyvagal-informed, stressing the importance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in handling trauma.
I recently moved to the Nashville, TN, area to continue helping First Responders and others with emotional or physical traumatic injuries. Now, living in Music City, I’d also like to bring awareness that trauma blocks creativity. Healing trauma can undo that stuck feeling and expand performance, whether a professional, an athlete, or a musician.
All work, no play? No way!
I need my playtime. At home, I enjoy being with my cat, Callie, and spending time with my husband. In my free time, I love to paint and read. On a nice day, I like to explore new places and go for walks.