Our mission
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Our mission ~
Our mission is to cultivate healing within yourself and between you and the world around you.
Whether you’re a Chattanooga local, or you live throughout Tennessee or Ohio, we want to empower you to cultivate better relationships with yourself and your partner, child, job, body, food, etc.
We believe therapy is a resource and basic human right to achieve the life you want to live. we’re committed to providing accessible, affirming, and empirically sound care to your and yours through talk therapy and Brainspotting.
Heather Mellis, M.S., MFT, MFT-I
Owner of Cultivate Counseling
From an early age I knew I wanted to help others. I was always the friend with good advice and someone to provide prospective to family and friends alike. I’ve had a natural curiosity and rarely accepted the most convenient answer. Little did I know, there was a specific career path that aligned with my nurtured skillset. My passion for psychology grew in high school when I took AP Psych. From there, I set out to understand why people do what they do and how I can make sense of it all.
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I'm married to the love of my life and we live in Chattanooga with our precious boy cat, Clem. When I'm not being a therapist, I enjoy taking walks in the city, sitting with friends over coffee, learning new crafts, or reading my favorite books.
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I earned my B.S., in Psychology in 2020 and went on to complete a M.S., in Marriage and Family Therapy from Lee University in 2022.
In grad school, I completed my clinical hours in both an outpatient setting and a university counseling center. I've worked in different outpatient settings since, and also have experience in residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient eating disorder facilities.
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I am still accruing hours for full licensure in both Tennessee and Ohio. I practice under the supervision of Zoey Holguin, IMFT-S F.1500009-SUPV in OH and Wesley Nichols, LMFT 1082 in TN.
My TN License Number: 2310 + OH License Number: M.2300250
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I am trained in Brainspotting (Phase One), I also hold certification as a Prepare/Enrich facilitator, and I'm a certified in Trauma-Focused CBT.
Our Values.
authenticity
We believe in nurturing the therapeutic relationship and providing attuned care to meet your needs and your goals. We are committed to showing up as our authentic selves for appointments.
compassion
Life is hard, and we believe you are always doing your best with the resources you have/had in the moment. Our hope is to help you create compassion towards yourself and others.
committment
We value accessible care and strive for therapy to be available to those who should want and/or need it. We are proudly neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ affirming and strive to provide empirically supported, decolonized treatment modalities. We utilize a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach to provide equitable, weight-inclusive, and anti-discriminatory care.
collaboration
We believe therapy is a collaboration between you and your therapist. You are an expert on yourself, We aim to empower our clients to make decisions in alignment with their values and beliefs.
curiosity
We aim to always approach sessions from a place of curiosity over judgement. We hope to help you create insight into your yourself, your relationships. We hope to model a curious posture for you to approach things from a place of openness.
hope
We believe change is possible. We know therapy works and can help you live a life of balance, authenticity, and flexibility. We proudly hold hope for our clients that things can and will get better.
You deserve the space to be heard.
You’re at a point where therapy feels like the next best step. Maybe you’ve been down this road before or this is your first time reaching out. Exploring resources for yourself is such a brave thing to do. I admire the courage it has taken for you to get to this very moment. Let’s start this journey together!