Family Insight Magazine.pdf

Uplifting& ENCOURAGING Therapy

M elanie Drayton, a mental health therapist specializing in coach counseling and assessments, became a certified school counselor before joining Family Insight, LLC. Her duties in that role involved advising and referring students to other resources like Family Insight. Melanie worked in the school system until a colleague informed her they were employed with such an agency. Melanie had the proper education; she just needed to obtain the training and certifications, so she pursued them. Now at Family Insight, she’s on her way to receiving her Licensed Associate Professional Counselor certification. Her day can involve many different assessments. Melanie works with children who have been through trauma and assesses parenting skills and domestic violence risks in couples. She appraises families to determine who is fit to care for the child should the parental rights be terminated. Melanie also performs bonding assessments where she observes how the relationship has grown between a child and a foster parent who desires to adopt. The Department of Family and Child Services considers Melanie’s appraisals due to her expertise, and the assessments help them make their decisions. Melanie was born in Japan to a military

family. They transferred to the United States soon after her birth and shuffled from Miami to New Mexico, left New Mexico to live in Alabama, and finally set off from Alabama to settle in Georgia. She felt the strain on her parents’ marriage due to her father’s constant deployments. However, with loving, strict parents, she knew a spiritual life in the church and was relatively sheltered, but in middle school, Melanie found herself running with the wrong crowd. She straightened herself out, graduated high school, and left for college. After her undergraduate studies, she met her match in the man she is married to today. A mom of three kids, Melanie adores her life. She says, “I’ve just always taken an interest in resiliency: uplifting and encouraging people so that nothing stops who you are.” She gives her clients that extra care by accepting them as they are. Melanie doesn’t have expectations of how they should feel. She states that a welcoming presence is one of the most critical cornerstones in her practice. It’s natural for her when her clients can come to her apprehensive about talking. Once she

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