Episode 26: Melissa Neff Ph.D.
About
Melissa Neff, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and personal growth coach in Missoula, MT. She has been in private practice since 2010.
The current focus of Dr. Neff’s practice is conducting in-person and remote neurofeedback, a mind-body treatment aimed at regulating brain waves and decreasing cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and sensory dysregulation. She also provides individual motivational coaching for people who want to uncover their superpowers and become the best version of themselves.
For years, Dr. Neff specialized in conducting psychological evaluations for children and adults. She is an expert in the assessment of ADHD, anxiety, trauma, nonverbal learning disorder, and autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Neff also has expertise in diagnosing and consulting on the subject of Pathological Demand Avoidance, an atypical subtype of autism. She is a consultant for PDA North America: https://www.pdanorthamerica.com.
Dr. Neff is known for her strengths-based and relational style, her passion for helping her clients to grow and thrive, and for providing ethical care, thorough reports, and educational feedback sessions.
Dr. Neff received her BA with honors from The University Professors Program at Boston University. She received her MA and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The University of Montana and completed her pre-doctoral internship at Spokane Mental Health Center in Spokane, WA. Her doctoral dissertation was on the topic of intimate partner violence, and how survivors found strength and resilience in and following their experience of abuse. She has worked in several community mental health centers, where she gained a respect for the collaborative “treatment team” model of working with kids and families.
Dr. Neff is a faculty affiliate at University of Montana, where she has taught graduate-level courses on assessment and therapy for the Clinical and School Psychology Ph.D. programs. She has consulted for a range of community agencies in Montana, including the Child Development Center, Full Circle Counseling/Consumer Direct Services, and the FIRST STEP Counseling Center at St. Patrick Hospital. She has participated in grant research aimed at equipping schools to treat children with trauma, and in the creation of a video game to help victims of domestic violence learn coping skills and gain the strength to leave their abusers.
Dr. Neff has also been featured on the Tilt Parenting and Alive at Learn! podcasts.
About the Episode:
Today Zach sits down with Dr. Melissa Neff. Melissa is a friend, a colleague, and someone Zach considers to be a rockstar practitioner who looks at humans and human behavior through a lens of neurodiversity. Melissa's work helps people become more aware of and become more effectively able to wield their unique superpowers as humans. Melissa is currently focusing some of her work as a neurofeedback practitioner, and today we sit down to open the box and explore the contents of neurofeedback as an intervention. We get into what it is, what it can do, who it can be helpful for, and more. This is one of what will be many conversations Melissa and Zach plan to have on neurofeedback, and we hope you enjoy. Welcome.