Donna S. Melinkoff, MA, MFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has more than 25 years experience as a mental health and social services professional. She holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University and is an experienced Psychotherapist, Family Counselor, Children’s Services Social Worker, Clinical Supervisor for therapists in training and Workshop Presenter and Speaker.

Donna provides services for adults and adolescents through brief, solution-focused counseling, long-term individual psychotherapy, couple and family counseling. She provides personal coaching for skill building, task management, focused personal growth and goal-oriented strategies. She is a Relationship Specialist who works with couples, families and individuals on a variety of concerns, including: pre-marital, blended families, marriage adjustment, parenting, and separation concerns. She is certified through the American Academy of Bereavement as an Advanced Facilitator of bereavement and grief counseling, including pet-loss grief. She also specializes in helping people with time-of-life concerns, impasses and transitions, including: young adults leaving home; mid-life and retirement changes and challenges, lifestyle changes, divorce recovery, and losses. Donna’s expertise includes mood problems, especially depression, and women’s issues, including self-esteem self-concept, self-acceptance, changing roles. Donna provides Critical Incident Debriefing and Trauma Aftercare Response services, and has a certification as a Trauma Response Specialist. In 2002, Donna was awarded The Michael Lambert, Ph.D. Award for Clinical Excellence by Pacificare Behavioral Health.

As a Clinical Supervisor, Donna has provided clinical supervision, in-service training and consultation for undergraduate field placements, trainees, post-graduate interns and licensed professionals, since 1997. From 2000 to 2003, Donna served as an Oral Examiner for the State of California, Board of Behavioral Sciences, Marriage and Family Therapist licensing examinations.

As a Speaker and Workshop Facilitator, Donna has presented a variety of topics on psycho-educational and clinical issues to community and professional groups, including time-of-life challenges, women’s concerns, relationship dynamics, life-skills, and prevention and early intervention strategies.

Donna has been as Associate Therapist at Life Focus Center since 1988. She is committed to Life Focus Center’s goals of helping people meet life’s challenges by providing high quality, cost-effective professional services in a private, personalized, caring and supportive environment.

“I approach therapy and counseling as a collaborative and interactive process that comes from a real and meaningful alliance between therapist and client. My holistic view of personal well-being incorporates mind/body/spirit and the interpersonal, contextual, family history and developmental dimensions of a person’s life experience. In my private practice at Life Focus Center, I have had the privilege of helping adolescents and adults help themselves to attend to, go through and grow beyond the sometimes overwhelming, painful and puzzling challenges of everyday living, and to achieve greater personal effectiveness, satisfaction and balance in their lives and relationships.”

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