Counseling Melanie Nordstrom LCSW: Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Melanie is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Tennessee who works with individuals, couples and families. She provides a generous sliding fee scale. Melanie does not bill insurance at this time, but can provide you a receipt to turn into your insurance.
Melanie has a broad variety of experience over the past 25+ years in the field. She works with all ages from childen to senior adults. During her years of helping people, Melanie has worked with couples counseling (including pre-marital), depression, grief, anxiety, school and behavior problems, life transitions and adjustments, abuse, ADHD, drug and alcohol recovery and spiritual issues.
Melanie was born into a family of professional school teachers who were also in the pastoral ministry. Early in life, Melanie developed a desire to help people. This led her to pursue a Bachelor of Psychology degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Just before her final year of college, she married the love of her life, Philip Nordstrom.
When Melanie graduated from college, the young couple decided to pursue their Masters degrees at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While Phil worked on his theological studies, Melanie worked on a Certificate in Theology and a Masters of Social work. This degree prepared Melanie to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
After graduation, Melanie's family began to expand, and she ultimately had two daughters and a son. Over the next several years, Melanie and her family lived in Oklahoma City where she was employed as a social worker at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. Her family then moved to Murphysboro, IL where her husband became the lead pastor of a non-denominational church. In addition to being part of the pastoral team at their church, Melanie worked in the public and private practice doing individual, group and family counseling. The family remained in that rural community for 19 years. Although their time in Illinois was very fulfilling, the Nordstroms sensed that it was time for a change and moved to Knoxville, TN. They accepted the pastorate of a church called Life Church in the Foundation City area.
Melanie has a broad variety of professional experience. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she was instrumental in starting counseling and social service programs at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic and Shawnee Health Services. In 2006 she founded and served as the Executive Director of Community Life Concepts - a Christian 501(c)3, which, over the years, has provided services including professional counseling, youth programming, supportive services to foster and adoptive families, programs that offer low cost food options, coordination of community responses to natural disasters and assisting with grant writing. During the course of her career Melanie also counseled and developed programs for the homeless and those in extreme poverty, people suffering from HIV/AIDS, chronic mental illness, and individuals addicted to drugs or alcohol. In other studies, Melanie attended Bethel Seminary for a year to begin work on a Doctor of Ministry in Social and Economic Transformation. She is currently working as an Educational Counselor at the National College Counseling Center and is an individual and family counselor with Counseling Connection. Melanie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Tennessee and is affiliated with the American Association of Christian Counselors.
Melanie has also served in a number of capacities within the churches she and Phil have pastored. She has assisted with teaching, preaching, curriculum development, leadership training, drama directing and writing, setting up needed ministries at the church and training leaders and volunteers. Whether she is in her role as a counselor or working in a church ministry setting, Melanie most enjoys challenging people to see their potential and helping them find ways to become everything they were created to be.
