Melanie Harsch is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and a Master of Social Work (MSW), and brings many years of experience supporting children, youth, and adults both locally and internationally. Through her work with diverse populations, Melanie has developed an affirming, inclusive, culturally safe, and trauma-informed approach to care.
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Melanie has a longstanding passion for helping individuals and families through the many challenges that can come with learning difficulties/exceptionalities or mental health symptoms. She supports with care, and compassion while teaching practical tools. Her training includes extensive coursework in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression, trainings in ADHD and executive functioning, and specialized workshops such as Smart but Scattered: Enhancing Executive Skills, Adoption Competency Mental Health, Understanding the Profoundly Gifted Path, and Effective Use of Gradual Exposure in the Treatment of Anxiety. She also has many years of experience delivering Coping Cat, an evidence-based CBT program designed for children experiencing mild to moderate anxiety.
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Outside of the clinic, Melanie serves as Director of Resources on the board of ABC Ontario (Association of Bright Children Ontario). She is married to a registered psychotherapist, and together they have two daughters attending university, a chubby grey cat, a very loud black kitty, and a fluffy black rescue dog named Indie. In her spare time, Melanie enjoys volunteering with a parenting support group and is currently learning to play pickleball.
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Areas of Expertise
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Adults

• Anxiety and stress
• Depression
• ADHD
• Executive functioning
• Parenting

Children (ages 7+)

• Anxiety
• ADHD
• Executive functioning
• Adoption
• Adjustment to parent separation or divorce
• Giftedness
• Twice-exceptional (2E)

Therapeutic Approaches

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Stress-relief and coping strategies
• Executive function skill-building for ADHD
• Solution-Focused Therapy
• Play- and art-based CBT approaches for childhood anxiety