A Relational and Trauma Informed Approach to Healing
I’m Melanie Goetz, and I’m a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT). I help adults and couples come home to themselves–healing from relational wounds, attachment injuries, and shock traumas, transforming the patterns that contribute to feeling stuck, disconnected, or unseen. My work is deeply rooted in relational therapy with a focus on attuning to the emotional-body experience as you share your story. Healing happens when our minds, body, spirit, and emotion align, sharing a story together that makes sense of who we are, in our world today, in a way that allows us the freedom of relating authentically with ourselves and others.
Healing is not just a cognitive process. True healing happens through safety, connection, and the experience of being heard, cared for, and protected. In our work together, we will reduce the impact of present day triggers by building an internal sense of safety and groundedness, while repairing past relational injuries by rewriting the story with new, supported experiences.
Who I Work With and When Therapy Helps Most
Many of my clients come to me carrying long standing survival patterns shaped by early attachment wounds. You may find yourself cycling through guilt or rejection sensitivity when setting boundaries, relying on self sufficiency to avoid overwhelm, craving closeness yet fearing the potential abandonment that follows, or feeling chronic stress in your body, always bracing yourself for the unknown. Some identify as Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Highly Sensitive People, or survivors of neglect, narcissistic abuse, or trauma. Whatever your story, our work offers a place to soften these patterns, rebuild trust in yourself, and create space for more authentic connection.
Clients generally find me at one of three turning points: those seeking therapy for the first time after struggling to ask for help, those returning after a painful or overwhelming therapeutic experience, and those who have spent years in CBT or talk therapy and realize they are ready to go deeper for lasting transformation. When the motivation is there, therapy becomes life changing.
How We Listen, Notice, and Work Together
In session, you can expect a safe, steady, and deeply attuned space where we move at your pace. My collaborative approach integrates somatic work, EMDR, parts work, and guided imagery to support your nervous system to regulate and allow your attachment system to settle into the ease of feeling understood within our therapeutic relationship. Together, we will build your sense of safety, strengthen your connections to others, and uncover the resilience that has always been within you.
I am here to guide you on your path, witness your growth, and help you reclaim the peace, trust, and rooted strength you deserve. Healing begins when you feel safe, seen, and supported, and from there, transformation naturally unfolds.
Grounded in Training, Led by Care
I bring extensive training and global experience to our work together. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Leadership, and two Master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy and Christian Apologetics, having studied in Denver, New Orleans, and Western Europe to understand family dynamics across cultures. I am certified in EMDR and Dynamic Attachment Re-Patterning Experiencing (DARe), and have completed advanced trainings to integrate attachment theory, parts work, and somatic psychotherapy with EMDR. To support couples, I have trained in Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT), Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and Attachment Core Pattern Therapy, and enjoy offering EMDR within couples sessions when appropriate.
These experiences allow me to create a safe, attuned space where you can feel supported, understood, and empowered to heal deeply, finding the courage to authentically express your needs and dreams, believing you are worthy of connection and satisfaction.
Ways I Practice Self-Care
My personal self-care, grounding habits include: tech-free quiet time, nature walks, listening to birds or the ocean waves crashing, self-massage, painting my nails, enjoying a cup of tea, deep breathing, co-regulating hugs, creative plant-based cooking, dancing freely, gardening, playing my hangpan drum, and practicing basic tai chi and qigong movements.
Get in Touch
325 Carlsbad Village Drive, Suite A2
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Phone: (760) 453-0373
Fax: (760) 621-7619
Mailing Address:
1759 Oceanside Blvd., Suite C, Box 192, Oceanside, CA 92054
Office Hours:
Monday-Friday, 7 am – 4 pm
In-person and telehealth appointment
times vary from Sunday-Friday.