Hi, I’m Mélodie Winter (she/her), licensed psychotherapist and owner of Cadence Counseling and Coaching in Durham, North Carolina.

If you’re here, maybe it’s because you want things to change. Therapy can help you develop more loving, trusting, and satisfying relationships. It can help you regain confidence, feel less alone and more hopeful about the future. If you want to be stronger and lighter at heart, more confident, more relaxed, less depressed, and less angry, therapy can help. Building a happy life takes time, but it is possible.

In addition to traditional psychotherapy, my approach is grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which leverages your values and your goals to help create real change in your life. I am also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which means I can help you process your difficult experiences effectively.

I weave in elements of mindfulness therapy and Buddhist psychology into my work as I deeply believe in the benefits of this approach. I am currently pursuing the Meditation and Psychotherapy Certificate Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a program that is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

One of my specialties is working with folks who love someone struggling with substance use. If you’re a partner, a relative or a friend of a person who struggles with alcohol use, please jump to this section.

My work is deeply rooted in a harm-reduction approach and grounded in the wisdom and advice of CRAFT - Community Reinforcement And Family Training, a compassionate, non-confrontational evidence-based intervention that helps family and friends develop effective strategies for helping their loved one who is struggling with a substance use disorder and for feeling better themselves.

I became a therapist because therapy changed my life. Before that I was an editor, a teacher, a university advisor and a life coach. I’ve lived through heartbreak, grief, loss and profound family transitions. I’m an imperfect person humbly navigating midlife and its competing demands of work, kids, aging folks, health concerns, money, climate stress…sigh. When you work with me, you work with someone with a rich and diverse professional and personal experience.

I am a trauma-informed therapist, and I approach my work with humility as a cis-het White woman who is committed to creating a more just and liberated environment for all beings.

I also provide services in French, my other native language, for Francophone clients.

I live in Durham, NC with my spouse and our two children.

I enjoy running, tea dates with friends, reading, writing, traveling, and a mindfulness practice grounded in lovingkindness.