Alexa Mellman

I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master of Social Work from Kennesaw State University and a background in literature and philosophy—fields that nurtured my lifelong fascination with stories, meaning, and the endlessly complicated business of being human. I specialize in trauma and PTSD and use approaches including EMDR, IFS-informed therapy, DBT, CBT, and attachment-based work. My experience includes supporting first responders, survivors of interpersonal trauma, caregivers and families facing serious illness, and people navigating grief, substance use, anxiety, depression, and difficult relationships. At the heart of my work is a genuine desire to make the world better by helping people understand themselves, heal what has hurt them, and build lives that feel more authentically their own.

My approach is warm, curious, straightforward, and non-pathologizing, with what clients have affectionately described as “cool auntie vibes”—compassionate and honest, with humor available whenever it helps. I practice from a nonviolent perspective, meaning I do not assume that I know you better than you know yourself, impose my will over yours, or tell you who you should be or what you should do. Instead, we work collaboratively to understand how your experiences have shaped you, including how behaviors that may no longer serve you often began as intelligent attempts to protect yourself. I draw from EMDR, IFS, DBT, CBT, attachment theory, and other approaches to create therapy that fits the individual in front of me rather than trying to make the individual fit a particular ideal.

Your first session is an opportunity for us to begin getting to know one another, explore what brought you to therapy, and identify what you would like to be different in your life. I create a relaxed, respectful, and judgment-free environment where you can share at your own pace—there is no expectation that you arrive with a perfectly organized life story or immediately disclose your deepest trauma. We will begin developing goals together, guided by your values and priorities. You can expect genuine curiosity, thoughtful questions, transparency about the process, and likely at least a few laughs, because therapy can be meaningful without feeling relentlessly solemn or corny. Although corny is good sometimes, too.