Melina Santos, MPH CBHC

Melina Santos brings nearly 15 years of experience in public health, prevention, and community mental health across Tampa Bay. She has supported Spanish-speaking immigrants, adolescents, adults, and families through education, coaching, and counseling in nonprofit, clinical, educational, and corporate settings. Melina is a graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Capella University. She holds both a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Behavioral Health from the University of South Florida. She is also a certified behavioral health coach and trained shamanic practitioner. Melina has experience supporting individuals who identify as highly sensitive or empathic, neurodiverse, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ clients ages 12 and older. She also works with individuals who identify as chronic people pleasers, struggle to prioritize themselves, or have a history of self-neglect that leads to exhaustion and burnout. Many of her clients come in feeling misunderstood or disconnected from themselves, navigating anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and repeating emotional patterns that keep them stuck and unable to live authentically. As a Dominican American woman, Melina is especially passionate about supporting women of color and specializes in working with Hispanic/Latinx clients navigating cultural expectations, identity, and intergenerational patterns. She provides services in both English and Spanish. As a counselor, Melina helps clients build self-awareness, cultivate inner safety, and reconnect with their authentic selves. She offers a compassionate space to explore experiences, heal long standing wounds, and develop habits that support building a meaningful relationship with themselves. Her hope is to gently guide clients in peeling back the layers that shaped who they believed they had to be, so they can reclaim their personal power, take up space, and move toward the life they feel called to live. Her work centers on helping clients feel at home within themselves. For clients who feel called to explore their experiences through a spiritual lens, Melina is open to integrating her shamanic wisdom into the therapeutic process, helping clients connect with deeper layers of meaning, intuition, and inner guidance as part of their healing journey.