Psychotherapy for Adults & Teens
in Parkland and its neighbor communities.
To learn more about services offered, call today for your free consultation
Should I consider therapy?
Therapy is for everyone! In fact therapy has evolved over the past decades, making it more accessible to all who want. Though there continue to be some misconceptions and apparent stigmas associated with “mental health,” people are more resourceful in exploring options to their solutions, which includes therapy. Therapy has transcended the traditional settings of office space to the comfort of the clients’ home, through a computer, phone, or even text messaging, whichever method the client chooses, there is no longer any excuse to begin the therapeutic journey needed to obtain the life they seek.
“Parkland is truly a special community where its diverse population come together to support and nurture another. I am grateful to be a part of such a community in collaborating with many on improving their mental, emotional and relational wellbeing“
Dr. Arias Shah

Lets begin by demystify the therapeutic process
Beginning therapy can be nerve-wracking, and even intimidating but for some exciting, to embark in a path of healing, recovery, empowerment, skill building, and resolution. If you’ve never been to therapy before, you may be wondering what it will be like to start this process. Dr. Arias Shah hopes to provide you with some insight that will help you get a clearer picture of what you can expect as we begin to work together.
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Custom Private Online Therapy
Online therapy has made therapy services available to all through the use of secured technology helping people across the world who need and want to improve them self, circumstances and relationships. Research has shown online therapy to be efficient and effective, just as traditional in office services has; after all, your clinician’s therapeutic stance and work would not be altered due to platform (place).
There are many reasons people are choosing to do online therapy, including but not limited to:
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Individual Therapy
Many begin their therapeutic journey as individuals to address and process some of their personal concerns in privacy.
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Family Therapy
Many would agree family is everything, with that said many come to family therapy for hope to change their circumstances, whether it’s …
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Couples Therapy
Couples are unique relationships, in how they identify themselves and define their relationship, and how it develops/evolves over the course of their existence, which is recursive.
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Concierge Therapy
Are Services for those that need extensive personalized flexible services in an environment that they consider is private, safe and helpful given their circumstances and lifestyle.
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Melissa Arias Shah, Ph.D LMFT
Hello, I’m Dr. Arias Shah, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist of over 15 years of clinical experience, a Clinical Supervisor, an Assessor and the founder of Enso Minds; a center of therapy, counseling, assessments, clinical supervision and concierge services, offered in English and Spanish in office and online. I provide extensive services for South Florida’s diverse communities as well the online community across the State of Florida. As a clinician I see individuals, couples, and families of diverse cultures and diversities including the LBGTQ community experiencing a range of issues from a collaborative strength based approach.
I Have Experience With…
Depression & Grief
Depression is a common and serious medical illness affecting negatively how you feel, think and act. Depression is not sadness or grief. The grieving process is natural and unique to each individual and shares some of the same features of depression. Both grief and depression may involve intense sadness and withdrawal from usual activities. Depression is treatable, typically with a psychotherapy and medications. Though typically treated at the individual level when include family members the depressed person should have a better chance of symptom alleviation.
Anxiety & Stress
Stress and Anxiety are not the same thing, as stress is a response to external stimuli and its generally short lived, as oppose to anxiety which is provoked by a persistent internal feeling of apprehension causing significant impairment in different areas of that person’s life. Treatment options for both include life-style changes, psychotherapy, and for anxiety medication might be needed as their a different types of anxiety that result in more debilitating symptoms.
Families in Conflicts & Parenting
Occasional conflicts in families is normal across the different developmental stages. When the arguments become frequent filled with tension and resentments that’s when therapy may be the best option to provide the families with a safe place for them to voice and process their turmoil. There are several therapeutic options aside from parenting such as Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT), Structural, Bowen, Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT), Solution Focused Therapy (SFT), Narrative Therapy (NT) and Experiential to name a few. Whichever the approach, MFTs always consider the potential cultural and diversity implications on the problem and solutions alike, assuring respect of the families.
Couples in distress, Premarital Counseling, & Divorce Therapy
All couples have their ups and downs, and many can get through those on their own, but for others in distress, their communication has broken down, leaving them to feel exhausted, dissatisfied, and even resentful in some cases. Whichever point you are in your relationship, it is critical to have a clear assessment of your level of satisfaction gauging how to proceed accordingly, meaning instead of being reactive, you can be proactive to assure you are nurturing and investing in your relationship. For instance, for those not yet married, they can benefit from premarital counseling, which can help with developing a more solid foundation (understanding) for the relationship to be resilient. As for those who are post-marriage, finding themselves in distress, it’s better to seek therapeutic services sooner than later as couples can get to the point of no return (divorce), which leads me to divorce therapy. Divorce therapy can be for those in the process of divorce and for others that recently have divorced with the goal of coping, rebuilding an independent identity and life, as well as for some to construct a relationship that may allow them to co-parent. There are many therapeutic approaches that can be helpful for any of these types of couples. For premarital couples, there are the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) and the Relationship Enhancement Program. For couples counseling, whether in distress or not, options may include but not limited to: Gottman, EFT, SFT, NT, SFTNT, Experiential, etc. Some clinicians, like Dr. Arias Shah, would offer package sessions as well as longer session hours when working with distressed couples and divorce counseling to tackle more.
Professional Burn out & Adult and Young Adult-hood Life Challenges
Burnout seems more common in today’s work culture. The expression “no pain – no gain” has become literal. People work too hard/too much. For some, they have succumbed to the pressures of success; for others, they feel they don’t have a choice as their lifestyle depends on it (financial obligations, whether luxuries or bare necessities). Regardless sooner or later they feel exhausted, depleted, and lost; eventually for some this leads to a loss of motivation, as well as relational, physical, mental and emotional distress. Self care and reprioritizing life, responsibilities and expectations is critical to avoid further damages. Adults and young adults alike typically experience significant life-changing events.
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Many struggle with making choices because of their fear of the unknown, failure, or guilt. Each person’s experience and outlook is different; what’s a small deal to one person is a huge deal to another. For instance, some may struggle with choosing to go to college or not, to which college, and which degree; whether you are at a crossroad, to move out, to have sex, to come out as whichever way you self identify, such as LGBTQ, or perhaps you are more on the other side of the life-challenging decision making spectrum deciding to quit a job, a habit, or a relationship; or to retire or to start a new career; to get married, to get divorced, or to have kids; to buy a house; to care for a sick loved one, or to cope with a medical fetal illness, and I can go on and on, as everyone’s experience of what is scary or challenging is unique. The key is to not ignore it, but instead, pay attention to your inner voice; I am not saying to obey it, but listen to what your body, mind and emotions/soul are saying…the best thing to do when feeling upside down, overwhelmed, uncertain, or scared is to slow down come to a stop look both ways and pull up your head out of the water to breathe.
Whether you are in the beginning part of your adult journey, middle or towards the “end” its not too late or too early to be true to yourself and loved ones on what you need and want to be whole. The path to wellness for many of you will include therapy as an option in conjunction of many other small changes in moving towards healthier living in the mind, emotions ad and body. Change is a process, for some its longer than others, so don’t wait; explore if therapy is for you and your loved ones.
My Approach
Dr. Arias Shah’s psychotherapeutic approach is collaborative, systemic and strength based. Through these theoretical frameworks Dr. Arias Shah and her clients work together to identify negative interactional cycles and patterns that keep them stuck, and explore potential resolutions/solutions working towards preferred outcome. This process requires identifying strengths and resources, identification of exceptions to the problem, externalization the problem, and discovering the clients” preferred narrative.
Overall Psychotherapy with me will involve:
- Develop a therapeutic relationship based on trust and authenticity
- Identify therapeutic goals collaboratively
- Determine the clients personal strengths, resources and assets to capitalize on
- Explore and identify the client’s and his or her systems’ interactional patterns that drive and sustain “symptoms/distress” and reduce those negative experiences accordingly
- Develop increased self-awareness/mindfulness, insights, resources, and skills
- Work towards positive change in reaching preferred outcome/narrative
- Develop new perspectives, ways of managing emotions, communicating, and interacting in healthier productive ways assuring stronger relationships
Resources
Addiction and Recovery
Anxiety Disorders
Associations & Institutes
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
American Counseling Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
Association for Psychological Science
Canadian Mental Health Association
Center for Mental Health Services
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Child Abuse and Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Facts & Statistics
Educating Women, Children, and Families on Child Abuse and Domestic Violence (Holly Cochran PhD)
SAMHSA’s Children and Families
SAMHSA’s Protection and Advocacy
Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse
Depression
Developmental Disorders
Diagnosis
Dissociation and Traumatic Stress
Eating Disorders
Journals & Magazines
Early Child Development and Care
Journal of Mental Health and Aging
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Language and Cognitive Processes
Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
Neuropsychological Rehabilitation
Personality and Individual Differences
Psychology of Men & Masculinity
Mental Health Care General Links
Personality Disorders
Suicide Awareness and Hotlines
Get In Touch
Call
(888)-995-3676
melissa@ensominds.com
Serving
Parkland/Coral Springs Area & Online
Hours
Mon – Fri: 9am – 5pm
Saturdays: 9am – 1pm