A woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing a black top and dark pants, standing indoors near a window with a view of trees outside. 
About Me

Hi, I’m Melissa

A therapist in Pasadena for individuals and couples doing the deeper work: trauma, connection, identity, and the patterns that don’t shift on their own.

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Melissa Tines, LCSW · Certified EFT Couples Therapist · EMDR · Pasadena, CA

My story

Coming to this work

“You are the expert on your life.”

I come to this work shaped by more than one culture, which taught me early how much of what we carry is bigger than us: family, history, migration, the expectations we grew up inside. I keep those forces in the room, named or not. It’s anti-oppressive, decolonial work, and it means you never have to leave part of yourself at the door.

You already know more about your life than anyone else in the room. My job isn’t to hand you answers: it’s to help you hear what you already sense, with someone who’s genuinely in it with you.

Some of what keeps us stuck doesn’t live in words. It’s held in the body and in old patterns, below what talking alone can reach. So alongside our conversations, I bring in approaches like EMDR and somatic work to get to it.

Whether you come on your own or with a partner, we move at a pace your nervous system can trust. Nothing forced, nothing rushed.

Who I work with

Space to make sense of what you’ve carried

You might be someone who’s held it together for a long time. Capable, responsible, the one other people lean on. And lately that’s stopped being enough. Something underneath is asking for attention.

I work with adults carrying trauma, chronic illness, strained relationships, and questions of identity and belonging. And I work with couples who want to feel close again, to be understood, to stop having the same fight. That includes neurodivergent partners navigating real differences in how they process and connect.

Areas of Focus

  • Intercultural & Interracial Couples

  • Trauma & Complex PTSD

  • Relational conflict

  • Identity issues

  • Generational Trauma

  • Life Transitions

  • Anxiety & Panic Attacks

  • Neurodivergent relationships

How I work

My approach to therapy

  • EMDR

    A well-researched approach that helps the brain reprocess painful experiences so they stop hijacking the present. I work with EMDR for individuals, and I’m trained to bring it into couples work too.

    More on EMDR therapy →

  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

    A structured, attachment-based approach that helps couples step out of the cycle they keep getting stuck in and start to feel like a team again. I practice as a Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist (ICEEFT).

    More on couples therapy →

  • Somatic & embodiment work

    Some of what we carry lives in the body, not just the mind. We work with sensation and the nervous system so change reaches deeper than talk alone.

  • Relational therapy

    The relationship in the room is part of the work. What happens between us often mirrors what happens outside it, and that’s something we can learn from together.

  • Parts work

    Making room for the different, sometimes conflicting parts of you, so they can stop working against each other and start working together.

Every part of this work is trauma-informed and culturally affirming: anti-oppressive, decolonial, and welcoming to LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent clients.

Certifications

Certified in both EFT and EMDR

Earning certification in both EFT and EMDR required years of supervised clinical work and case review. Together, these modalities cover the two core threads running through my practice: connection and trauma.

Certifications (Internal)
Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist
ICEEFT
Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist
ICEEFT

EFT is the backbone of how I work with couples. Full certification through ICEEFT requires completing the entire clinical sequence: externships, core skills training, supervised clinical hours with a certified EFT supervisor, and a rigorous review of recorded sessions.

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ICEEFT
EMDRIA Certified Therapist
EMDR International Association
EMDRIA Certified Therapist
EMDR International Association

Certification goes well past basic EMDR training: at least 20 hours of consultation with an EMDRIA-approved consultant, further continuing education in EMDR, and letters of recommendation. I use EMDR with both individuals and couples.

Read more →
EMDR International Association

Advanced training & credentials

Emotionally Focused Therapy

  • Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist (ICEEFT, 2026)

  • Broken Bonds: Healing Relationship Betrayals with Emotionally Focused Therapy (2026)

  • Spot ADHD Traits that Fuel a Negative Cycle (2025)

  • Sex, Love and Attachment: Integrating Sex Therapy and EFCT (2025)

  • Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Core Skills (2025)

  • ADHD in Couples (2024)

  • Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Externship (2023)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) & Somatic

  • EMDR Advanced Training Treating Couples with EMDR (2026)

  • EMDR & Somatic Therapy (2026)

  • EMDR Basic Training (2024)

  • Somatic Psychology (2024)

  • Functional Family Therapy (FFT) (2021)

Melissa Tines, LCSW #122818 · MSW, Smith College · Certified EFT Couples Therapist (ICEEFT)

Curious whether we’re a fit?

The best way to find out is to talk. Book a free 20-minute consultation and we’ll take it from there, just a first conversation.

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Therapy in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park & online across California