
Melissa Rideout, Ph.D.
Melissa believes a trusting relationship with a client is the foundation for effective therapy and, thus, works to create a non-judgmental space in which clients feel heard and validated.
Melissa enjoys working with emerging adults and adults. She has over a decade of experience working with individuals in areas such as managing stress, anxiety, and depression, navigating life transitions, and interpersonal relationships.
Background & Qualifications
Melissa’s approach to counseling is relational and holistic. She believes that forming a trusting relationship with a client is the foundation for effective therapy and, thus, works to create a non-judgmental space in which clients feel heard and validated. Melissa views emotional, mental, social, and physical health as interconnected and supports clients in adopting healthy lifestyle habits (i.e., regular sleep, stress management, connecting with others, balanced eating, physical activity, etc.) known to improve overall health and wellness.
Melissa is collaborative and intentionally integrative in her work with clients, drawing from strengths-based, solution-focused, and cognitive-behavioral perspectives and strategies. She actively explores her clients’ reasons for seeking counseling and collaborates with them to identify goals, develop a plan, and problem-solve any potential barriers that might impact their personal growth and development. Melissa views each client with whom she works as the expert in their own life who possesses many strengths and resources to address concerns they are currently facing. Melissa guides her clients in exploring the ways in which they view and understand themselves, their experiences, and interactions with others so they may broaden their awareness and identify the things they can do in support of their overall health and wellness.
Melissa has over a decade working with emerging adults and adults in both large public and small private liberal arts institutions of higher education. She enjoys working with individuals who are looking to explore life transitions, ways to manage anxiety and depression, ways to make sustainable lifestyle changes aimed at overall health and wellness, and relationship issues. Melissa completed her BA at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She earned her Master’s and PhD in Clinical Psychology at Suffolk University. She returned to NH to complete both her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the UNH Counseling Center. Melissa is also an American Council on Exercise (ACE) Certified Personal Trainer. When not working with clients, Melissa can be found running, enjoying time with family and friends, and walking her dog.
Testimonials
When my husband and I started seeing Dr. Rein, we thought our relationship might not work because our personalities were too different. We had been seeing another marriage counselor for over 6 months and that just wasn’t working. Looking back, our first marriage counselor felt more like a referee. My husband and I would discuss our fights and she’d let us know which one of us was being reasonable and which one was being unreasonable; then we’d discuss our different upbringings to determine why each of us felt the way we felt. Those methods never moved us forward. Dr. Rein never felt like a referee; he felt like a coach. If my husband felt unappreciated, it was taken as a fact; it wasn’t debated. The goal was to understand how I could express my appreciation because what I was saying or doing wasn’t working. If I felt hurt by something my husband said, it was taken as a fact; it wasn’t debated or determined to be an unreasonable feeling. The goal was to help my husband understand why I felt hurt and to help him communicate his feelings in a way that wasn’t hurtful to me. After working with Dr. Rein our personalities haven’t changed but our communication has and that has made all the difference. My husband and I still have disagreements, but we know how to keep them from escalating to relationship-harming blowouts. We are much more capable of expressing our wants and needs while still expressing how much we truly care for each other. I feel like we have “us” back. We have found our friendship again; we have fun all the time and enjoy each other again. I am so incredibly grateful for Dr. Rein’s help in saving our relationship.
I just wanted to say that I enjoy the blogs that you’ve been sending and let you know that we are so grateful for your help. The “marathon sessions” were the best! That may have been more than a year ago, maybe two, but our relationship is still benefiting from the things you taught us. Now, when one of us gets upset about something, it’s not a world-ending downward-spiraling catastrophe (and that’s a relief in itself!), but instead, we can get ourselves out of it and even laugh together! It’s been great and we say all the time that we’re so thankful for you.
Dr. Rein is a very special couples therapist. He is highly skilled and patient-guided. He helped us to finally communicate effectively, which was very much like learning a new and better language. We highly recommend Dr. Rein. He offers couples insightful observations and suggestions in a very positive and productive environment.
We are so lucky to have found Dr. Rein at the beginning of our marriage to set us on a course for happiness and success. My wife and I got married, had our daughter, and bought a house all in the same year after only dating for a year. When my wife first suggested counseling, I was skeptical and saw it as a sign of weakness and failure on my part, but Dr. Rein’s methods have taught us how to effectively communicate and work through difficult issues that we would not have otherwise been able to handle productively. We have learned to value and appreciate each other’s differences and how to avoid escalating disagreements that would lead into full blown arguments. I truly feel that these sessions have been invaluable for our marriage and well-being.
I often think about how you helped us through our troubled time and just want to thank you again. Our relationship has grown better and better by the years because of our meetings with you, learning to communicate, and of course staying out of trouble on my end. Last year I took our whole family on safari and I surprised her with renewing our vows in the Kalahari Desert at sunset. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and you helped open my eyes to what I really had, because at the end of the day, she really wasn’t the cause. I sincerely want you to know that I doubt we would still be together without your help. Just so you know, anyone I talk to who has relationship issues, you’re the number I give them. Not sure if you see any of them, but for their sake, I hope so.