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Melissa practices as a paediatric, adolescent and mental health Occupational Therapist. She provides full Developmental Assessments, assessing and treating Gross/Fine Motor Co-ordination Skills, Handwriting, Sensory Processing, and Social-Emotional functioning. Assessment may include comprehensive written reports with clear and practical recommendations and strategies for home, school, university and/or work. Melissa provides regular school consultations and training, and liaises closely with schools. Melissa has a special and longstanding interest in working with children, adolescents and adults with Aspergers Syndrome. She is part of the Developmental Assessment Team, assessing and treating children/adolescents/adults with Aspergers, and working closely with the Psychologist and Speech Pathologist at Crisalida.
In addition, Melissa is registered with Medicare as a Mental Health Provider. She provides Child and Adolescent Counselling for 4-23 year olds who are struggling socially, emotionally and/or behaviourally; or who present with mild to significant anxiety, depression, stress, attention deficit disorder, poor emotional regulation and/or other mental health difficulties.
Therapy sessions are developmentally and family sensitive, and provide a safe space to explore issues verbally and/or through play; to explore and practice alternative options for social, behavioural and emotional self-regulation; to improve self-esteem and self-confidence in relevant areas (eg. handwriting, sports skills, social skills, attentional/organisational skills, emotional/behavioural regulation skills). Melissa co-facilitates regular Group Therapy sessions with other therapists in the Crisalida team – she believes groups are a powerful way of facilitating growth and change (eg. Friendship Groups, Games Groups for Teens with Aspergers).
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