Clinical Expertise
Melissa Lillie, LCSW (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of North Carolina, Colorado, Virginia, Massachusetts & Tennessee. She works with clients aged 8 and older as well as adults and everyone in between. She has a keen knowledge and understanding of OCD and has been grateful to have excellent training and mentors. Melissa has over 10 years of experience treating people with anxiety and other concerns including: OCD, BFRBs, Anxiety and Tics/Tourettes. She also has experience working with people who are on the autism spectrum. Melissa is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Exposure and Response Prevention (EPR), Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for OCD (I-CBT), Habit Reversal Training (HRT) and CBIT for tics. She works with all subsets of OCD including thoughts of harm, Relationship OCD, contamination, existential anxiety, feelings of "Just Right" OCD and unwanted sexual thoughts. Having experienced OCD herself, she knows the frustration, shame and exhaustion that sometimes comes with trying to manage intrusive thoughts. Melissa is an LGBTQIA+ allied provider.
Maternal Mental Health
Melissa has lived experience with OCD prior to the birth of her daughter. Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (skin picking and hair pulling) and OCD run in her family and she began experiencing these in her college years. She knows what it is like to have thoughts she does not fully believe and to feel she does not have the power to disengage from them. Motherhood brought new challenges of balancing professional and home life, as well as the whispered question "what if the OCD returns?" She weathered the many sleepless nights of a baby with colic and is now the proud mom of a ukulele playing little girl. These experiences left her with a newfound respect for her own self-care and a commitment to living in accordance to her values (what she wants her life to reflect). Melissa believes in the importance of working with you to help break the patterns of anxiety (OCD, BFRBs and panic attacks) that keep you stuck and missing out on some of life's most important moments.
Education
Melissa graduated from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada with her Master in Social Work and attended Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC for her undergraduate degree. She has had work experience with compulsive eating, OCD, ASD, Tourette, & BFRBs and has worked in a hospital setting and in private practice.
Personal
Melissa is a avid hiker and paddle-boarder. She has traveled extensively but always has more to see and learn. She spends a lot of time in her garden attempting to keep her plants happy. Most of all Melissa continues to do things that scare her, intimidate her and push her to be curious about life and uncertainty.