About
Melissa-Miles Dunn, MA, LPC is a licensed mental health therapist based in Charleston, SC. She earned her Masters in Clinical Counseling from The Citadel Graduate College in 2014. Prior to opening Mind Collaborative, LLC, Melissa-Miles gained experience providing counseling services, administering neuropsychological assessments, and teaching undergraduate psychology.
With a warm and affirming demeanor, Melissa-Miles collaborates with clients to establish a safe and trusting working relationship. Her approach is person-centered, rooted in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and integrated with brain/body-based techniques to help clients heal and grow in their lives. She has experience working with clients of all ages, races, genders, and sexual orientations who are struggling with anxiety, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, depression, esteem, grief, life transitions, relationships, stress, and trauma.
Qualifications
Relevant Training and Certification
ACT Pain Management
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps individuals address distressing thoughts, emotions, and body sensations with an emphasis on personal goals and values. Participants are encouraged to explore personal values and create goals consistent with those values to improve quality of life and functioning. With increased acceptance of experience and valued-based action, participants begin to limit the control that chronic pain exerts over their lives.
Brainspotting Provider
Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that utilizes points in the visual field to help access, process, and heal from unprocessed emotions or events. With the aid of a pointer, trained providers guide participants across their field of vision to locate a "brainspot" connected to a traumatic memory, painful emotion, or distressing body sensation by establishing a connection to the subcortical brain.
Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness training is rooted out of the innate human ability to be present in the moment and gain awareness of one's experience without interpretation or judgement. The practice of mindfulness involves breathing, relaxation, and sensory connection to calm the body and mind. Mindfulness-based skills help individuals reduce unhelpful reactions and responses to life events by learning to simply observe.
TF-CBT Provider
Trauma-focused Cognitive -Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based protocol for children and adolescents who have been affected by a traumatic event. Participants learn to express thoughts and feelings, develop skills to re-regulate the trauma response, and navigate distressing memories. Caregivers are encouraged to join the process to facilitate communication and demonstrate support.
