A little about me
Melissa Huang
I became a therapist because I believe that feeling truly understood can change everything. So many people move through life carrying things they were never meant to hold alone, often without the space or support to make sense of it. Expect warmth, honesty, and the occasional gentle nudge: therapy that feels human, not clinical.
I also know what it is like when your nervous system feels like it has a mind of its own, and how exhausting it can be to keep explaining yourself to people who do not quite get it. My approach is warm, collaborative, and down to earth. I meet you where you are, with curiosity and respect for your pace, no fixed agenda, no timeline to keep up with.
I draw mostly on EFT, IFS, and EMDR, emotion-focused, parts, and memory-reprocessing work, woven together with body-aware, trauma-informed care and practical tools to support emotional regulation, nervous system awareness, and meaningful change in your day-to-day life. I am especially drawn to working with people navigating ADHD, trauma, and the quiet gap between what is happening inside and how it looks on the outside.
EMDR is where much of my trauma work happens, and I am also trained in the Flash Technique (EMDRIA-approved training). It is a step inside the EMDR protocol: before we process a painful memory, we take the edge off it first, without you having to describe it or hold it in mind. That makes the EMDR work that follows gentler and far less overwhelming, which matters for phobias, OCD and complex trauma, where a memory can feel too big to approach directly. Read more about EMDR therapy in North York.
IFS, Internal Family Systems, is what I reach for when someone feels torn. One part of you wants to say yes, another wants to run. One part pushes you to keep going, another has quietly shut down. When parts pull in different directions like that, it is hard to feel at peace inside. Rather than picking a side, we get curious about each part and what it is protecting. The inner critic, the people-pleaser, the part that feels uncertain, the anxious part, the one that is burnt out: each of them creates a lot of stress inside, and most of them are trying to help. As they feel heard, they settle, and the calmer, steadier core of you gets more room to lead. I weave this parts work in with EMDR and EFT, so a memory that keeps a part on guard, or a feeling that has been kept quiet, can be worked with directly.
Before becoming a psychotherapist, I spent six years in community rehabilitation, supporting people recovering from motor vehicle accidents, strokes, and brain injuries. Watching them navigate recovery without adequate emotional support is what drew me to this work. Outside of sessions, I recharge through nature, yoga, pickleball, and snowboarding.
I offer in-person sessions at my office near Leslie and Sheppard in North York, Toronto, and virtual therapy across Ontario.
