You can find greater peace, self-acceptance, and authentic connection.

Meet Melany Grout, LHMC,  an existential therapist providing therapy for anxiety, trauma, stress, and other distress in Seattle and throughout WA.

Welcome, I’m so glad you’re here.

Life can feel isolating, stressful, and empty if you have to push down your feelings, pretend you’re someone you’re not or that everything is OK, or always be working to not upset or disappoint others.

I offer a space where you can be you, where you’re not judged, and where there’s curiosity and compassion. We can start by creating clarity around what you’re experiencing and bringing some relief to what’s distressing right now. We’ll also develop a deeper understanding of you and how to find more love for yourself and deeper connections with others.

About therapy with me

My approach is informed by my training in existential therapy and also by aspects of the humanistic, relational, psychodynamic and internal family systems (IFS) traditions in psychology.

What’s all that mean about what it’ll be like to work together?

A space…

to breathe  and find relief from the intense culture of productivity, achievement, perfectionism, and judgment in our world. I care deeply about you having a place where you don’t have to perform. We’ll loosen the grips of paradigms like right-wrong, achieve-fail, broken-fixed, true-false, and good-bad, and discover pathways for greater freedom, self-acceptance, meaning, and choice for you.

A process…

that holds you as human. We won’t treat what’s “wrong with you.” Distress isn’t a mere function of individual pathology; it’s always connected to the world it emerges from. We’ll understand experiences like anxiety through a lens of what it means to be a person in this world, both holding this as a natural part of being alive and discovering ways to alleviate distress and to thrive despite it.

An opportunity…

to really know yourself. We will understand what you value, what influences you, and what gets stuck or can be difficult, helping you gain a stronger sense of authentic self, have more trust and confidence in yourself, feel more grounded in the face of anxiety, messiness and challenges of life, and find more connection in relationships.

Have questions?

Read more about some of my core values and beliefs.

Education, credentials, and background

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), license #61478506

  • Master of Arts, Psychology, Seattle University

  • Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Washington

A lifelong, guiding compass of mine has been a passion for supporting fundamental rights and needs. I became a therapist following 12 years as a human rights attorney and after discovering that my truest purpose is to support others’ unique humanity the the birthright of connection. 

My experience spans a variety of contexts, including providing crisis intervention and emotional support on a crisis line; engaging families and children navigating child welfare issues; supporting clients who have experienced emotional or physical trauma and are seeking social support and legal protections on that basis (I no longer work in a legal capacity); and serving as a clinician and case manager for clients seeking support related to anxiety, trauma, grief and loss, depression, loneliness, chronic pain, psychotic conditions, and other types of distress.