About Melissa
Hello! I’m Melissa, owner and Registered Psychotherapist of Sojourn Psychotherapy located in Dundas (Hamilton) Ontario Canada.
Melissa White
Registered Psychotherapist, M.A, OCT
AF-EMDR Level 2 (Parnell Institute)
CCTP-I (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional)
CCTP-II (Certified Complex Trauma Professional-Attachment Focus)
My Offerings and Practice
Sojourn means a ‘temporary’ stay, which is a metaphor of one’s experience of psychotherapy. To me, psychotherapy is a lifelong journey, one that we can come back to when the calling arises. My areas of focus are Attachment Trauma (Childhood Trauma), Complex PTSD, Relational Difficulties, and Self Discovery. Sessions are done virtually with a PHIPA compliant platform. Walk-and-talk is also an option in the Dundas area and RBG (Hamilton, Burlington) trails.
My Parts of Self
Some of my intersectionalities include being a psychotherapist, a seeker, a mother, politically left, British and East Coast descent, feminist, right-brain, lover of movement, music, art and philosophy. I’ve taught in schools, been a camp counsellor many times, and worked with student, staff, and faculty for over 20 years at McMaster University.
Jungian analyst James Hollis has said that he has learned more about psychology through the humanities, such as classical mythology and philosophy. As someone with an Honours degree in English who also studied Fine Arts at the university level for three years, I fully agree. My mentors include the Existentialists Sartre and Beauvoir, artists such as Frida Kahlo, writers like Anais Nin, the beatniks, John Keats, Huxley, and psychedelic explorers like the Shulgins. I very much live a symbolic life and lean towards eco-spirituality. I’ve had many interesting travels that include yoga and meditation trainings, psychedelic awareness, and flow arts (fire spinning) trainings.
My Approach to Therapy
My approach is integrative, and I take a Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual and attachment theory lens to all my clients. This means that environment, family dynamics, epigenetics and transgenerational issues are all important factors to your present self, and may help to define your coping strategies, beliefs, and strengths. Other models that I draw from include:
- Experiential and Humanistic Therapy (Nature Therapy, Spiritually Integrated or Transpersonal, Dream Work, Play Therapy, Client Centered Rogerian)
- Psychodynamic Therapy (Jungian Sandplay, and Existential Therapy)
- Somatic Therapy (AF-EMDR, and Sound Therapy).
- Systemic and Collaborative Therapy (Bowenian Family Systems)
- Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT, Mindfulness Based, Trauma Focused)
There can often be a divide in the therapy world as to what modality is considered most effective and evidence based (ie. CBT versus Somatic, or top down versus bottom up), I think it is important to recognize that in order to be client centered and cross cultural, one must be diverse and inclusive. That said, the approaches that I draw from deeply resonate with who I am, my belief system, and parts of self. Sometimes we refer to this as ‘effective use of self’ in therapy.
While understanding that our core beliefs and cognitive distortions are valuable, so is exploring our deep subconscious, altered states of consciousness (Dream Work, Plant Medicine, Holotropic Breathwork), symbols and archetypes (Jungian shadow work, Sandplay), Existential questioning of responsibilities, freedoms, and choices, and Somatic work (AF-EMDR, tapping or drumming during a free associative process). From a Transpersonal perspective, I think it can be useful to expand our awareness outside of our identity, making connections to things that may be viewed as larger than us (ie. nature, the universe, music and sound). From a parts perspective (IFS or Internal Family Systems) or Jungian lens, the goal is to be able to integrate and accept all parts of self.
