MELISHA FRANKS
Registered Psychologist
Melisha empowers individuals, couples, and families overcome anxiety, relationship challenges, grief, trauma, betrayal, and life transitions through compassionate, evidence-based counselling. Melisha helps couples to master the skills needed to overcome build healthy communication skills, nurture intimacy, and thrive in their relationship!
Couples and Individuals
Learn, heal, and thrive in life and in your relationships
Melisha also works with many couples who are struggling with conflict, emotional and sexual intimacy issues, betrayal, communication issues, and more. She supports individuals to step into personal empowerment, to heal and transform relationships, to set healthy boundaries, and increase their confidence in overcoming life transitions and challenges! Melisha is a strong advocate for individuals who are learning to believe in themselves or need unbiased support and collaboration to work through life struggles.
Melisha will encourage you, challenge you, and celebrate with you. And you just might find yourself believing in your relationship or in yourself once again. Before long, you may see change and new growth while experiencing her warmth, humor, and relentless belief in you!
Why Choose Melisha Franks & Keys to Hope?
- Over a decade serving Medicine Hat and Southern Alberta
- Registered Psychologist
- Founder of Keys to Hope Counselling Services
- Creator of Learn Heal Thrive online courses
- Couples, trauma, grief, relationship and family betrayal and abandonment, anxiety, and relationship specialist
- In-person and virtual counselling
- Empowerment Lab: A group for individuals who are seeking tools and opportunities to learn empowerment skills. If you are interested in the next group (January 2027), call and ask to be put on the wait list.
- LIFFT (Healing from relationship rejection and abandonment). An 8-week group for women seeking to heal after the aftermath of relationship rejection and abandonment. Ask to be put on the interest list.
Areas of Focus:
- Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT): Externship and Core Skills; Working with Highly Escalated Couples using EFCT; The Application of Polyvagal Theory to the Practice of EFCT; The Integration of Sex and Sexuality with EFCT
- Women's Issues including Workplace Struggles and Burnout, Relationship Issues, Separation and Divorce, Low Self-Worth, Abuse, and Overall Health
- Sex and sexuality within intimate partner relationships
- Grief and Loss: Disenfranchised Grief, Relationship Loss, Loss of a Loved One, Loss of a Pet, Loss of Employment, Loss of Self and Identity
- Integrative Sex and Couples Certification 2026
- Animal Assisted Therapy: Internship in Animal Assisted Interventions (partnering with horses)
- Group Counselling: LIFFT and Empowerment Lab
- Healing from: Betrayal Trauma, Rejection, Abandonment (Intimate partner relationships and other forms of rejection and abandonment)
- Trauma- Strategies for Resolving the Impact of Post Traumatic Stress including Perinatal Mental Health: Birth and Reproductive Trauma
"Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too."
- L.R. Knost
Additional Qualifications
- (EFT) Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples Externship and Core Skills (54 hours)
- Gottman Level 1
- Creative Grief and Loss Coaching 4 month Certificate
- Counselling Adult Survivors of Sexual Violence Certificate from the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services
- Completed the Birth and Reproductive Trauma Counselling Certificate from the Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Trainings
- Completed the Unleash the Power of Sex in EFT course from the National Marriage Seminars of America
- Completed Integrative Sex and Couples Certification Training with Tammy Nelson 14 hours
Intervention Approaches:
- Adlerian therapy
- Art Therapy
- Client Centred Therapy (Rogerian therapy)
- Family Systems (Bowenian) Therapy
- Gottman Couples Therapy (Level 1)
- Feminist Theory
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
- Existential Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Person Centred Therapy
- Psychotherapy
Session Rates:
$235/individual and $235/couples or families
Not in Medicine Hat?
Learn Heal Thrive, online relationship education with Melisha
Melisha created Learn Heal Thrive so couples anywhere can learn the skills she teaches in her counselling room. Through short video lessons, worksheets and practices you work through together at home, couples build four core skills: empathy, curiosity, validation and repair.
Learn Heal Thrive is education, not therapy, so it can be a gentle place to start.
Stay Connected with Melisha on Instagram @thriveinlifetherapist
