About Melissa Paakh, Couples Therapist & Researcher

I believe our closest relationships shape us more than almost anything else. They are where we learn love, trust, protection, and belonging - and, at times, where we experience our deepest wounds. They are also where healing becomes possible.

Before becoming a clinician, I was a Division I and All-American collegiate swimmer, and spent more than a decade building a career in entertainment as a television host, model, and stand-up comedian. These experiences deeply inform the way that I work today. Each deepened my curiosity about the ways people connect, protect themselves, and make meaning of their relationships, while offering a unique window into the complexity of human experience. They continue to inform how I listen, how I understand the patterns beneath the surface, and how I help couples move toward deeper connection.

My work is grounded in attachment theory, relational psychotherapy, psychodynamic thought, family systems, and draws from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the Gottman Method. Together, these perspectives help make sense of the patterns that develop between people - and how those patterns can be understood, transformed, and replaced with new ways of relating. You can read more about how I work with couples.

Couples therapy is the heart of my practice. Individual and family work complements that focus because the ways we relate to ourselves inevitably influences the ways we relate to the people we love.

Alongside my clinical work, I am pursuing doctoral research in relational psychology, exploring the dynamics that foster resilient, enduring relationships. That evidence-informed perspective is present in every session, but therapy itself is always human first: warm, direct, and deeply engaged. I'll help you slow down recurring patterns, gently name what may be difficult to see on your own, and create space for meaningful, lasting change.

I practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee under the clinical supervision of Dr. Markus Rogan, whose depth-oriented approach to relational and existential psychotherapy has been an important influence on my clinical development.

Sessions are offered in person at my Beverly Hills office and virtually for clients throughout California.