joy Melodee “Mel” gentry bosna, msw, lcsw, she/her

A core tenant of Mel’s treatment philosophy is the emphasis of your humanity—it’s hard to be human! You’ll be sure to see the many ways Mel is human too—you can count on her to regularly spill her coffee and run 5min behind—it’s from a place of shared humanity that Mel offers support and a witness to healing. There is very little she’ll ask you to do that she hasn’t had to do, isn’t still doing or isn’t willing to try—which is precisely why she’s confident your life can AND will change if you can validate your own humanity and work on rebuilding your relationship with yourself. This of course isn’t about her story, it’s about yours. Change is inevitable when we risk for it.

As a clinical social worker Mel sees individual pain within systemic context, therefore she’s committed to working on the structural pieces that pave the way for the painful reasons people often find their way into her office (looking at you racism, misogyny, homophobia and poverty). Mel is licensed as a clinical social worker in Arizona and believes that health needs to involve individual and societal changes. As a result she aims to validate the broader context of what contributes to the stories we're living while supporting others to change what's within their control. Mel’s significantly less interested in symptoms and hopes to discern and support underlying issues that often prevent us from accessing self-trust, hope and vibrancy, she already believes in your inherent worth and goodness.

Mel received a BS in Sociology and a Masters in Social Work and is licensed as an independent clinical social worker (LCSW). She’s worked at an inpatient eating disorder facility, acted as the Residential Director of an adolescent group home for survivors of sex trafficking and taught in a graduate counseling program. In 2010 she founded My Story Redeemed, PPLC and remains in private practice. Mel intentionally takes on a limited number of clients whose areas of vulnerability align with her specialties and scope of practice.

In addition to therapy Mel conducted a qualitative national research project on embodied consent and wrote her first book, In The House of Me. Learn more about this specific project on Mel’s website.

Specialties:

• Complex Trauma: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual assault, infidelity/betrayal trauma, gas lighting/emotional manipulation and spiritual abuse, complex shame

• Self-Abandonment and attachment disruption stemming from family of origin (co-dependency, intimacy-avoidance and developmental immaturity)

• Eating disorders: orthorexia, anorexia, bulimia, binging and distorted eating, body image

• Sexuality, dating, divorce and relationship patterns, betrayal

• Boundaries & consent: internal and relational

• Brain-Spotting, IFS, EMDR & FLASH trained