From the Desk of Dr. Melanie

Intergenerational loss, emotional masking, and why healing often waits until adulthood It has been seven years since my father died. Receiving the news was devastating, but what lingered—and still lingers—was the aftermath. The phone calls. The unanswered questions. The systems I was suddenly expected to navigate while barely holding myself together. The finality of death collided with something else entirely: regret over lost time. My parents divorced when I was young, and t

This year, my view of paradise came with an unexpected obstruction: construction. Every morning, instead of waking up to the serene, picture-perfect landscape I envisioned, I was met with the clatter of drills, the shuffle of boots, the thump of hammers, and tarps snapping in the breeze. Dust hovered in the air—much to my dismay as an allergy sufferer—and the soundtrack of renovation started long before my morning swim. And yet, it was exactly the metaphor I needed. I could h

It’s been a rough few weeks for me—and for many in my network. You can feel it in the tone of emails, the pauses between messages, the deep sighs that linger after meetings, and the tighter embraces. Some weeks remind us that beneath all the titles, tasks, and timelines, we’re still human. There’s a phrase I often return to: everyone you meet is going through something.  It’s simple but sobering. The colleague who spoke just a little too harshly may be carrying grief. The fri

The Stories That Shape Us—and How We Redefine Resilience I’ve learned that the stories we tell—especially the honest ones—can heal, connect, and lead us toward purpose. For years, I’ve poured into my work, my family, and my community—often at the expense of my own rest. Like many of you, I believed resilience meant pushing through, showing up, and staying strong no matter what. But what I’ve learned—through loss, leadership, and life itself—is that resilience isn’t built by c

When my doctoral classmates circled the virtual room sharing their project ideas, I held back until the end. I listened closely as they...

When Rest Becomes Stress: What a 20th Anniversary European Vacation Taught Me About Mental Health, Marriage, and Policy What was supposed...

The question itself wasn’t unusual. The tone was what caught me off guard: “You have student loans?” We were on break during a payments...