My name is Melissa Strickland-Hanks and I am the Owner and Mental Health Counselor of Living Water Counseling Minis​try.​  I provide Mental Health Counseling Services from a Cognitive Behavioral Technique with a specialization in Christian Counseling, Substance Abuse Counseling, and Women's Issues. 

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I have earned a Master of Science in Counselor Education: Community Counseling from Radford University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech Go Hokies!)  

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I am licensed by the State of Virginia as a Licensed Professional Counselor and I am licensed by the State of North Carolina as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor.   I am also certified by the State of Virginia as a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor. 

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I have approximately 18 years of experience providing counseling services overall. 

---12 years of my experience are from counseling in a private practice

---2 years experience working in the in-patient substance abuse counseling field with adults 18 years and older

---4 years experience working in the general counseling field while in undergraduate and graduate school with adults 18 years and up (volunteering with a crisis hotline, counseling college aged students with behavioral issues, and advising college students regarding academic concerns)

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I use an Eclectic approach to counseling, which means I attempt to choose the best theoretical approach based on your personal situation and needs.  The theories I tend to use more often are:

---Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

---Addiction Counseling

---Christian Counseling

---Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

---Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

---Existential Therapy

---Grief Therapy

---Harm Reduction Therapy

---Humanistic Therapy

---Reality Therapy 

---Motivational Enhancement Therapy 

---Person Centered Therapy

---Narrative Therapy

---Psychotherapy

---Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)

---Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

---Trauma Counseling