I’m Melissa — founder and driving force behind B.R.I.D.G.E. K9.

I created B.R.I.D.G.E. K9 to bring together my two deepest commitments: clinical mental health care and compassionate animal welfare. As a Licensed Professional Counselor, I have years of experience supporting people through addiction, trauma, and anxiety. Across that work one truth has held steady: regulation of the nervous system is central to sustainable healing.

My own dogs — an Australian Cattle Dog and a Beagle/Foxhound mix — taught me in the most direct way how tightly human and animal nervous systems are connected. That insight made this work personal, and it shapes everything we do at B.R.I.D.G.E. K9: integrating somatic regulation, grief support, pet doula care, and thoughtful training to heal both ends of the leash.