12TIGERS COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY
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about me ...

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. 

This is to have succeeded.

                                                    — Ralph Waldo Emerson
​


Welcome!

First of all, I love my work. The human experience is endlessly fascinating and I care immensely about each of my clients. I approach each psychotherapy and counseling session ever mindful that you and I are fellow travelers on this planet. Accordingly, the nature of my work is collaborative, and in the spirit of recognizing our shared humanity. 

​We are all on our own unique journey towards realizing our potential, and I learn much from my clients. You are very wise and have much to share. I love working with all kinds of people from all walks of life and helping them move past blocks, ruptures, malaise, and stuck places, Together, we identify and develop your inner resources, and move toward manifesting awareness, peace,
fulfillment, and flow. 

My psychotherapy style is uniquely my own. It is original, warm, creative, relational, spiritual, practical, and open. It has evolved after decades of study, practice, and travel here in the states, and also throughout Brazil, Sri Lanka, Europe, Mexico, and China. I have explored many spiritual paths and a colorful variety of cultures and lifestyles.

The path of my life, travels, and studies led me to pursue seminary training, and I am an ordained interfaith/interspiritual minister. I respect your personal spiritual path, as I am bound to no specific religious tradition. And of course, if you do not have a religious or spiritual aspect to your world, that's entirely fine! We work in the way you want to work, with or without spirituality as part of it.

In addition, I have studied an array of formal psychological, emotional, and energetic ways of helping others, and while each informs my work, none defines it. I continue to grow and study every single day, and my work continues to evolve as well.

Finally, and significantly, I could not assist you on your journey of healing, integration, and wholeness, if I was not on a similar journey of my own. My challenges and difficulties have helped make me strong, balanced, and compassionate toward the suffering of others. They inform my work every day. 

I invite you to call and I look forward to meeting you!

— Rev. Melanie Smith, MACP, LMFT 
Picture
© S. Russell Keil
Picture
Officiating a non-denominational memorial service, 2024
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Singing and drumming with memory care residents.,
​Albuquerque, NM, 2025

The experience and credentials I bring to this work:
​
  • Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA
  • Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) 
  • Ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual minister​, One Spirit Seminary, NY, NY
  • ​Licensed Continuing Education Provider, New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice Board
  • Sacred Sound Healing practitioner (full certification expected December 2025)
  • Creator of "From Despair to Repair" couples communication skills course.
  • Founder of NMCCS, New Mexico Couples Counseling Specialists
  • ​Featured on-air relationship specialist on 94.5 FM, KKOB talk radio drive time show​ with TJ Trout
  • Trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). A deeply transformative model for working with trauma, anxiety, breakups, couples issues, and more.
  • ​Trained in Relationship Enhancement® aka R.E. (couples counseling skills).
  • Trained in the Collaborative Divorce Coaching model, Sacramento Collaborative Practice Group
  • Advanced Certification in Mediation, Arcadia University and Institute of Advanced Dispute Resolution, Boulder, Colo.
  • Certification in Family Mediation, Face-to-Face Mediation Services, Denver, Colo.
  • Founder and owner of Berkeley Art Center LLC & Modern Photography, an award-winning photography studio, art gallery, and frame shop specializing in portraits, commercial, and fine art photography. Denver, Colo.
  • Communication technology and design instructor, Art Institute of Colorado, Denver, Colo.
  • Founder and former owner of Imeo Design Studio. Graphic design company, Denver, Colo.
Speaking engagements & workshops I have presented:

Debriefing, Trusting Each Other, and Affirming our Collaborative Ideals

Workshop presented to New Mexico Collaborative Practice Group 

Anger: an Act of Self Love
Presented to Well Woman Life Annual Meeting

Tips from the Trenches: Top Tools for Working with Tough Couples
Presented at Albuquerque Mental Health

Simplifying Anger: How to Skillfully Engage with Angry People 
Presented to Albuquerque Collaborative Practice Group

Hard Conversations in Health Care
Presented to UNM Medical Group’s “S.I.M.P.L.E.” Conference, in Taos, NM

Top Coping Skills for Working with Anxiety
Presented to Well Woman Life general meeting

ThinkFirst! Anti-Bullying Program
Workshop Co-developer & Instructor, Wagner Ranch School, Orinda, Calif.

the kaleidoscope of influences that inspire me ...
I owe an enormous debt to many great spirits and brilliant minds!
  • Edgar Cayce​
  • Rosicrucianism
  • Ram Dass​
  • ​Insights from the traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Christianity
  • Transpersonal psychology
  • The Integral psychology of Sri Aurobindo and Haridas Chaudhuri
  • Quantum theory/quantum psychology (esp the work of Amit Goswami)
  • Human energy field study and the Chakras​
  • Nature, nature, and more nature!​
  • The entities at Casa Dom Inacio, Abadiania, Brazil
  • Spiritism
  • Carl Jung
  • Thomas Hübl
  • Carolyn Myss
  • ​Bruce Lipton
  • Kohut/self-psychology
  • Freud/psychodynamic principles
  • ​Family systems psychotherapy
  • Gestalt approaches
  • Many mindfulness pioneers, including Dan Siegel, Ron Siegel, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzburg, Tara Brach, Rick Hanson
  • Sound, color, and vibration healing
  • My amazing 24-year-old son and 27-year-old daughter​

















505-377-0005

Sessions by appointment only.​
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  • Home
  • Couples
    • Half Day Couples
  • Individuals
  • Spiritual Companioning
  • Testimonials
  • About Melanie
  • The details
    • Contact & Services
    • Video Sessions
    • Why I don't accept insurance
    • Client forms