Melissa J. Leehan, MA, LMFT
After 39 years experience in a variety of clinical settings, I often find it hard to articulate my theoretical orientation. I have been blessed with good training and supervision over the years, including my own therapy, which I have integrated into something that works for me. Most notably, my orientation to psychotherapy combines a psychodynamic, object relations approach influenced by Gestalt methodology and family systems theory. Mostly, I strive to be my healthiest, most authentic self with clients because I believe that it is the nature of the psychotherapeutic relationship that heals and brings about change.
Active in professional organizations, I have served on the Executive Council of the American Academy of Psychotherapists for two terms, co-chaired two highly successful national meetings for the Academy and served as the Midwest Chairperson. I am a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and also an Approved Supervisor of AAMFT. I am a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Gestalt Institute and also served as President for two terms. I was the Clinical Director of an AAMFT approved graduate program in Marriage and Family Therapy in Indianapolis, IN. Most of my career as a therapist has been spent in private practice in Indianapolis and, more recently, Santa Fe. In addition, I worked in the Mental Health Clinic for the Indian Health Service in Fort. Defiance, Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation.
