About

As a practicing licensed psychotherapist for 20 years and the founder of the Holistic Counseling Center in Raynham, Massachusetts—a thriving practice with seven licensed clinicians working under her—Melissa Samartano, PhD, LMHC, RYT has worked one-on-one with thousands of clients. She is consistently sought out as a speaker and travels internationally to speak at wellness symposiums on her holistic approach to counseling.

In addition to offering private counseling, Melissa teaches weekly hatha yoga classes and an eight-week mindfulness courses at her center. All told, the Holistic Counseling Center sees about 2000 people per year. Melissa has an email newsletter list of 1000 subscribers with nearly 2500 visitors to her profile on PsychologyToday.com each month.

Having practiced as a licensed psychotherapist for over 20 years, Melissa’s specializes in treating adults, children, and adolescents who suffer from trauma and PTSD, spirituality challenges, relationship issues, depression, anxiety, ADHD, domestic abuse or violence, loss or grief, OCD, parenting challenges, or dissociative disorder.

Melissa received her Ph.D. in metaphysics with a concentration in holistic counseling from the University of Sedona in 2013 and her master’s degree in clinical counseling psychology in 1997 from Lesley University. Also a registered and certified yoga teacher, Melissa did her yoga teacher training at Maha Yoga Center in Bridgewater, MA in 2017. She has studied mindfulness with Thich Nhat Hanh and meditation at the Holistic Meditation Center in Burlington, Vermont.

Melissa was inspired to pursue a career in holistic counseling after spending 10 days in the ICU with a perilously high heart rate of over 300 beats per minute while working in a stressful corporate job. She was in her 20s. When surgery and medication failed to stabilize her condition, Melissa began to study and to treat herself with acupuncture, yoga, meditation, prayer, and metaphysics. Her efforts worked, and now her mission in life is to teach these same healing techniques to as many people as possible.

 

  • Speaking – Health and Wellness Symposium in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to 200 people
  • Buzz Around Health and Wellness Symposium in Bridgewater, Mass., attended by 1000 people (I will speak here again in April, 2018)
  • Thomas Aquinas Church in Bridgewater, Mass., on stress reduction and mindfulness to 150 people