About Us

Hello! I know that finding a therapist, counsellor, or psychologist can be a very overwhelming experience. There is a lot of information on the internet and it can be hard to decide who to trust. I wanted to share with you, how Level Up came to be, which may put your mind at ease, and perhaps trust that we have your best interests at the top of our mind.

I started working in the mental health community when I was 18 years old. I worked at the Youth Emergency Shelter, in Edmonton, when I was still a youth myself. As I was growing up, I knew I either wanted to practice family law or be a psychologist. I chose the path of psychology because I wanted to help kids who were raised in an unhealthy family environment, much like myself. I also thought that it would be less schooling, which was very naïve as I am now near completion of 13 years of post-secondary schooling and my 4th degree.

Right from the beginning, I loved working as a psychologist. I loved trying to figure out how people learn, why they were struggling, and how their upbringing influenced who they were/are. In my mid 20’s, I was surprised to learn that I was pregnant, as I never saw myself having children. That being said, I can honestly say that my daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I say the best thing, but it has also been very challenging and also very stressful. She was diagnosed around 3 years of age, after my separation from her father, with separation anxiety. Shortly after, she received a diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Even though I had been a psychologist and in many

leadership roles within Children’s Mental Health in Edmonton, I was overwhelmed with trying to find her the medical and psychological support she needed. Everywhere I turned, I ran into a dead end. Her OCD was so debilitating, I was exhausted. I got minimal sleep and found myself just focusing on trying to get through the day with my 4-year-old.

I had to decrease my hours at work, trying to focus on my own emotional health, and find support for her. After speaking to my family doctor, she diagnosed me with depression. I found myself thinking about ways that I could end my life or just run away. My daughter was with her father one night. I remember very vividly, calling my own father in the middle of the night, crying, and telling him I was going to drive out to the airport, jump on a plane and “run away”. At 30 years old, I was on the verge and couldn’t see a way out.

I started to see my own therapist on a weekly basis so I could express how I was overwhelmed with my daughter’s mental health, and how I felt like a failure as a parent. It was comforting to know that I could be vulnerable with someone, and this individual was not judgmental. She supported my decision to put my 4- year- old daughter on medication. She understood what OCD meant and how the younger the child was, the more likely that there was a genetic element. It was the one place where I didn’t have to fight, argue, or justify my decisions as a parent. My friends and family criticized and judged the decisions that I made with respect to my daughter. This was a battle that I was fighting by myself. I learned that fighting the system and
finding the right care is exhausting, defeating and overwhelming. No one lived in my house with my daughter and I. No one saw that she always had to have me in her line of sight, or that she would cry for hours on end if she couldn’t arrange her dolls in a certain manner. Or that she would spend hours trying to scrub the floor to get a small stain of the carpet. She would wash her hands until they bleed and she had to be around me ALL THE TIME!

Shortly after, I moved into leadership and decided I needed a break from supporting high-risk youth. My role was to support staff and families and try to ease their burdens and concerns within mental health. I soon found out that the system was too big and woven with a lot of politics. I moved from leadership in mental health to organizational leadership development and supporting executives. I have been lucky to work with some amazing leaders. This is when I completed my Master’s in Executive Business Administration (E-MBA), followed by taking on my Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology. For the past 10 years, I have been supporting teams, organizations, and leaders to have healthier workplace and to Level-Up their leadership abilities.

In the end, we never really found someone who really knew how to treat OCD. That was the beginning of my journey into getting trained in OCD. During my training, I learned about PANDAS/PANS. Again, another controversial diagnosis in the medical field, but not by those professionals who know OCD. My daughter and I have travelled around the world so she and I could learn more about this debilitating condition. I continue to attend training events, and will be going to Portland in October 2021, for extensive training in OCD.

My daughter enjoys speaking with some of my younger clients about her journey; about how OCD makes her feel, how others have judged her, and how she responds to family members who believe that “mental health is just made up”. She too has presented about OCD at conferences and schools. She tried to help adults understand what it is like to suffer from OCD. My daughter has been in and out of therapy for years. She has been in the hospital as a day-patient and was hospitalized for four months as an in-patient. We have tried various medical supports, different kinds of therapy, and occupational therapy.

I continue to learn more and more about OCD. I doubt this will ever stop. My passion now is presenting and teaching others about OCD. Not only from someone who is a professional but as a parent. I understand all faces of this nasty condition.

From the Public System to the Private System…

It was in the past 5 years, that I found myself on a work trip in Fort McMurray and unexpectedly had a “holiday stay” at the Fort Mac ICU. Struggling with major health issues, it took nearly 2 years to learn that I have Lyme Disease, a very controversial diagnosis in Canada. What was initially diagnosed as psoriatic arthritis, complex pain syndrome, (and a host of other medical issues)- likely from a tick bite from when I was 18 years old. A bite that found me in the hospital getting IV antibiotics for 2 weeks. This was during the time that flesh eating disease was very much “on the medical radar”. Their concern was I had flesh eating disease and it was not under control.

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Finding yourself in ICU and months of not being able to walk without pain, having numbness all over your body, and needing to sleep all the time makes a person think hard. During this time, I started to re-evaluate what was meaningful to me. A few health scares can make a person do that.

With some personal coaching, I set out to see if I could overcome the risk-aversion that I had in my mind. Knowing that I was spending thousands of dollars a year to help my daughter, with support from my spouse, I decided that I would start a small private practice. Working with individuals would be a very small part, because my goal was to support leaders and organizations. Little did I know that many people would book in to see me. I was starting to realize that the tiny little office that I had would not meet our needs, so, I began looking at developing or buying a larger space. I learned quickly that the demand was much greater than I could take on alone.

In October 2021 I started developing our current location in Beaumont! My vision and goal was to have the office feel comfortable and inviting. A place where you feel welcomed. A place where many of the people at Level-Up have fought some of the same battles that you have. A place where we will do our very best to make sure that you feel supported and cared for. We will fight with you to get the support that you need. No one should ever feel like they have nowhere to go, or they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. That is a very helpless and hopeless place to be and I know that first-hand.

I hope that sharing my journey helps you to feel like you know a little about why Level Up exists. A place where you can feel accepted and not judged! All of the people that work at Level Up want to make a difference in the lives of others. We are out-of-the-box thinkers. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I hope that if you come to visit us, you will soon feel that you are in an inviting space no matter if you’re 6 or 60.

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We will continue to grow and work towards providing a "wraparound" service within our community.

Sincerely,
Melody