About Melissa:

Melissa has been working in the field of perinatal health, including pregnancy, birth, postpartum, lactation, newborn care, family planning, & wellness promotion for the last 27 years in various roles: volunteer, nurse assistant, scrub technician, nurse, midwife, educator, and now bodyworker. She has practiced in community settings, hospitals, freestanding birth centers, and internationally.

She moved to Asheville in 2017 to work at the WNC Birth Center, and has since worked with Lantern Health and Lilac Health since WNC BC’s closure. She has attended births at the birth center and Mission Hospital. She is currently providing consults and bodywork to complement traditional primary, obstetric, & gynecologic care while developing her own full scope, independent practice. While originally from metro Atlanta, the community connection she has found in Asheville has made it her home.

Her passion for blending bodywork + birthwork developed from her own embodied experiences receiving bodywork and applying what she learned with her clients. She has completed training with Spinning Babies, including a 2 day comprehensive workshop with Gail Tully, Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner training, shoulder dystocia & breech training. She has found strong resonance with the ReStory Birthwork Team out of San Diego in their return to the blending of trauma-informed, relationship-based care; bodywork; positioning, gravity, & movement. Her biggest inspiration is the power, strength, resilience, and hope she encounters in the childbearing families she serves.