My Approach: No More “Fixing”

When a woman comes to me feeling lost, overwhelmed, and exhausted, I don’t see someone broken. I see someone whose soul is calling for transformation. Whether you’re overwhelmed with grief, anger, confusion, or numbness, you’re not broken. You’re in the fires of healing and growth.

I’ve been there.

I know that terrain. Not from textbooks, but from lived experience. From walking through my own collapses, initiations, and reckonings.

That’s why I never meet you with judgment or advice. I meet you with fierce respect, soft kindness, and the deep knowing that something very real is trying to be born through you.

I bring not just my credentials, but the kind of wisdom and compassion that only come from walking through the dark—and finding my way Home.

Customized for You


You are the expert, the sovereign, of your own life. ALWAYS. You may have forgotten. You may have never been told. But it’s still true.

My work is to help you reconnect to that truth. Over the past 40 years I’ve gathered a well-worn, enormously varied enormous toolbox: guided imagery, somatic awareness, dreamwork, cognitive-behavioral techniques, EFT (energy tapping), ancestor work, and more to help you find your way forward.

I tailor these tools to you—the complex, messy, beautiful you. Not a diagnosis. Not a category. You.

Together, we will walk the sacred journey of self-discovery, where you find the wisdom, strength, and intuition that reside within. You don’t need fixing. You need to come home: to you body, your voice, your knowing. I am here to help you do just that.

Therapy? Coaching? I Don’t Care What We Call It


I have been a professional psychotherapist for 40 years, and a professional coach for 30. But honestly? This isn’t about the “name” of how I work. This is not about method, or categories. This is about truth. This is about building the kind of trust where you can be deeply vulnerable without shame, speak the unspeakable, and begin to feel your own pulse again.

Whether we speak about childhood trauma, your deepest feelings and soul longings, or future visioning, it’s all sacred work.

Real transformation is never clean. It doesn’t care about categories. It’s messy. Tender. Sometimes deep and wild.

And always worth it.

The Work We’ll Do Together


Big transitions can be overwhelming. Together, we will:

  • Name and grieve what’s been lost—including the invisible: identities, beliefs, roles, dreams.

  • Access your inner strengths and resources, even the ones that feel out of reach right now.

  • Heal any deeper trauma that has been awakened by this transition.

  • Face the fears that keep you stuck or small—and learn how to stop abandoning yourself.

  • Reclaim your own tenderness and power as essential—not optional.

  • Practice asking for and receiving help, without shame or apology.

  • Envision and create a life that actually sings for your body and soul.

    These aren’t just “coping skills.” They are initiatory gifts, guides that you will carry into every future season of change.

What Emerges

I don’t offer easy promises. But I do promise this—if you let your unraveling do its sacred alchemy—you will not be the same. You won’t just “get through it.”
You become someone who walks through fire and comes out radiantly alive.

The Healing Power of Being Truly Seen


This work is not just about tools and techniques. It’s about the space between us—the very real connection we create. When someone finally sees you—without flinching, shaming, or fixing—you begin to come home to yourself.

This is a place where no feeling or knowing is “too much.” Where you can laugh, grieve, rage, reimagine. Where you can name what has been unnameable. And still be met with love.

Tending the Sacred


Big change can shatter your relationship to the sacred. Maybe what once felt divine now feels far away or even nonexistent. Maybe Spirit, or God, feels like part of the betrayal.

We can work with that. Not to rush you back into your old ways of connecting with your Higher Power (however you conceive that). But to help you build something truer for who you actually are now. Something that comes from your soul, your bones, not your old beliefs.

Through our work, you can rebuild and renew the sacred connection that is uniquely yours. One that becomes a wellspring of healing and strength both in the present and in the years to come.

Curious About Me?


If what I’ve shared speaks to you, I invite you to learn more about my approach and how I can help you. You can visit my Psychotherapy page for more details.

And if you feel ready to begin and want to explore working together, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at 206-427-1325 or via email at Melissa@MelissaGayleWest.com.

Remember: You are not alone on this journey. My heart is with you every step of the way.