Melissa helps people deal with pain and stress.
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Melissa has been practicing massage therapy for over seventeen years.
She has an extensive background in many different modalities including Therapeutic Massage, Swedish Massage, Deep Tissue Massage, Lymph Drainage, Aromatherapy Massage, Reflexology, Shiatsu, CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, and Body Wraps.
Biography
Melissa graduated in 1999 from the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy, a COMTA accredited institution. Her training includes over 620 hours of coursework in Swedish Massage, Acupressure, Jin Shin Do, Sports Massage, Anatomy, Kinesiology and Neurology. Upon graduation she passed both the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and the New York State Licensing Exam.
Over the last decade, Melissa has enhanced her credentials by completing over 6500 hours of bodywork as a Massage Therapist at the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, and through 400+ hours of continuing education courses including Professional Ethics, Reflexology, Reiki, Deep Tissue, CranioSacral Therapy, Aromatherapy Massage, Lymph Drainage, TMJ Massage, Stress-Related Disorders and Spa Body Wraps.
Melissa is also approved by the NCBTMB as a continuing education Approved Provider and teaches CE courses including Massage for TMJ Dysfunction; Easy Deep Tissue; and Ethics. NCBTMB Provider #451901-12.
Melissa has been a member in good standing of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) since 1999 and strongly supports its Code of Professional Ethics for massage therapists. She also holds a B.A. in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College and is a graduate of the iPEC Professional Coach Training Program.
Philosophy
Melissa believes that working within the client’s comfort zone is critical. For most people, moderate or firm Swedish massage with an emphasis on specific work at the muscles’ attachments, can be the most therapeutic approach and produce better results than a no pain, no gain approach. With her work, clients relax during the session and can more easily tune into specific areas of tension while muscle and tissue are reminded of their natural length and state. She tailors each treatment to the client’s immediate and long-term needs, integrating her knowledge of multiple western and eastern bodywork modalities into each customized massage.
Melissa D. Cope, LMBT NC #4552