Clinicians

Melissa M. Gonzalez, Psy.D.

Dr. Gonzalez moved to Houston from Atlanta, Georgia in 2013 and joined the Tarnow Center for Self-Management. She believes that as a member of a multidisciplinary treatment team, she has the opportunity to provide her clients with a thorough assessment and a comprehensive treatment plan, specifically designed to meet individual needs. Dr. Gonzalez’s clinical experiences have been extensive and broad-based, including clients of all ages ranging from ten months to 89 years old from diverse backgrounds with a variety of presenting problems and diagnoses. Her training and education have emphasized the treatment of trauma, eating disorders, and ADHD, as well as other, more severe, emotional and behavioral disorders. She has experience with various treatment modalities including play therapy, family therapy, individual therapy, and group therapy. Working with adolescent girls and women who struggle with emotional disorders, trauma, self-harm, disordered eating, poor self-worth, relational problems, attachment issues, boundary violations, sexuality, or parenting roles is both her specialty and her passion. Dr. Gonzalez often employs an eclectic individual treatment approach that begins with the development of skills drawn from DBT and CBT, providing some alleviation of the emotional pain that draws individuals into treatment. She then utilizes a relational, psychodynamic approach to explore life experiences while fostering the development of insight into unhealthy, maladaptive patterns.

 

Dr. Gonzalez received both her Master of Arts and Doctor of Psychology degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Georgia School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Gonzalez completed an APA-approved, pre-doctoral internship at the Allendale Association just north of Chicago, Illinois. While at the Allendale Association, Dr. Gonzalez provided individual, group, and family therapy within a residential treatment facility for youth with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, many of whom had histories of abuse or neglect. She also provided individual, group, and family therapies to youth enrolled in an intensive, psychoeducational, day treatment program and to adults, adolescents, and children in an outpatient clinic. Dr. Gonzalez completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Positive Outcomes Psychological Services, a private practice in Athens, Georgia. During this fellowship, she sharpened her assessment skills, completing comprehensive psychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults while also providing psychotherapy. Dr. Gonzalez completed her undergraduate education, earning a Bachelor of Science in both Biology and Psychology, at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.

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