Meet the clinicians
Two perspectives. One shared purpose.
Melissa and Neil bring different backgrounds, training, and styles to the same goal — helping you understand yourself better, trust yourself more, and build a life that actually feels like yours.
In-person in Folsom, CA and telehealth throughout California
Melissa Hopper
LPCCLicense #19433
"Warm, calm, collaborative, and empowering."
I specialize in working with adults navigating PTSD, trauma, anxiety, grief and loss, and major life transitions. Many of the people I work with are used to being strong, capable, and responsible for everyone around them, but internally feel overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected, or exhausted from carrying so much for so long. My approach is warm, calm, collaborative, and empowering. I work to create a space where you can feel genuinely understood while also helping you build confidence, trust yourself more fully, and become more connected to who you truly are.
My communication style is grounded, compassionate, and curious. I listen closely, ask thoughtful questions, and help you slow things down enough to better understand what you are feeling, what may be underneath it, and what you need moving forward. I am trained in Brainspotting Phase 1, Phase 2, and Expansion, and may incorporate Brainspotting to help process trauma, painful memories, and emotional patterns that can feel difficult to shift through talk therapy alone.
I am also KAP trained and able to offer Ketamine Integration therapy — a specialized approach that supports clients who are undergoing or have completed ketamine treatment, helping to integrate those experiences into lasting therapeutic change.
I believe therapy should feel purposeful, but never rigid. Together, we'll identify what you want to change, explore what may be keeping you stuck, and define what meaningful progress looks like for you. My goal is not only to help you feel better, but to help you become more confident, authentic, self-aware, and aligned with the life you want to create. Whether you are healing from trauma, moving through grief, managing anxiety, navigating change, or working toward a deeper sense of self, our work will be tailored to you.
If you're looking for a thoughtful, personalized therapy experience with space to go deeper and focus on what matters most to you, I invite you to reach out. Choosing therapy is a meaningful investment in yourself, and I would be honored to support you as you move toward greater clarity, confidence, authenticity, and a stronger sense of who you are becoming.
Areas of focus
- Trauma & PTSD
- Anxiety
- Grief & Loss
- Life Transitions
- Ketamine Integration
Neil Hopper
LPCCLicense #18996
"Warm, direct, curious, and usually a little irreverent."
I definitely did not take the traditional route to becoming a therapist — and honestly, I'm glad I didn't. Before mental health, I was a financial advisor, complete with the suit, investments, and lots of conversations about mutual funds. It was respectable work. It was also very much not my thing. What I actually cared about was the person sitting across from me: what they wanted from life, what was getting in the way, and what would help them make real, meaningful change.
That eventually led me into substance use treatment, where I worked in detox, residential, outpatient, and program leadership. I later worked inside the California prison system helping long-term incarcerated individuals become certified counselors. That experience shaped a lot of how I see people, especially when it comes to resilience, identity, accountability, and the fact that none of us should be reduced to the worst thing that has ever happened to us.
Today, I work primarily with adults dealing with trauma, anxiety, grief, major life transitions, overthinking, self-doubt, and that very human experience of thinking, "Why do I keep doing this when I know better?" I'm a certified Brainspotting practitioner and also use approaches like ACT, CBT, and DBT, but I have very little interest in making therapy feel stiff, overly clinical, or like a weekly appointment where I hand you worksheets and send you on your way.
My style is warm, direct, curious, and usually a little irreverent. I use humor. I ask hard questions when they need to be asked. I'll point out patterns when I see them, but I also believe that most of what we do makes a lot more sense once we understand where it came from.
My goal is pretty simple: therapy should actually lead somewhere. I want you to understand yourself better, trust yourself more, feel more confident in who you are, and build a life that actually feels like yours. And ideally, eventually, you won't need me anymore. That's kind of the point.
Areas of focus
- Trauma & Anxiety
- Grief & Loss
- Life Transitions
- Substance Use Recovery
In-person in Folsom, CA and telehealth throughout California
Not sure who to work with?
That's completely normal. Reach out and we'll help you figure out who might be the better fit — or you can always start with a consultation with either of us.