Professional Counselor Melody Brooke: Helping Singles & Couples Take a Compassionate Approach to Love for More Than 25 Years

The Short Version: Melody Brooke is a licensed marriage and family therapist who helps couples and individuals transform their relationships. She’s spent 25 years counseling clients on how to form healthy, satisfying relationships with one-on-one therapy, couples therapy, books, and workshops. Melody takes a unique approach by teaching clients to reframe how they perceive situations so they can respond to them with a theory she calls the “Cycles of the Heart.” She helps clients reclaim the intimacy, romance, and closeness they once had, and manifest the relationships they desire.

Melody Brooke’s career as a therapist is more of a calling than just a way to make a living. In fact, she was so excited about helping others, as well as figuring out her own path, that she was inspired to finish her education in 18 months. She then established — and began growing — a practice that has been helping couples for more than 25 years.

While her specialty is relationship counseling, Melody also works with clients who have dissociative identity disorder (DID). She learned about the personality systems that work inside DID patients by working with experts in the field. The foundation of her “Cycles of the Heart” model was born during those studies.

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“The clients with DID have their personalities coming from being a victim, rescuer, or from self-protection. I began to see this while I was working with couples at the same time that I was working with DID clients,” Melody said. “I realized that all of us — not just DID personalities — fall into those roles. We all do it. I built my model by discovering the opposite of that thinking.”

With her insightful, compassionate manner, Melody guides her clients to a new way of approaching thought, reaction, and communication. Her clients couldn’t be more thrilled with the effects of her therapy.

“People are blown away by the insight I have to the behavior that made no sense to them. I’ve helped them understand themselves more completely and allowed them to take a compassionate view of themselves,” Melody said.

Do you feel picked on? Or are you someone who always has to save the other person in your relationship? If those relationship roles sound familiar, Melody’s philosophy could help you improve your relationship — and how you interact with the world.

Melody uses both in-person therapy in her Texas office and Skype visits to connect with clients. She also reaches people through her books. While she works mostly with couples, individuals can benefit from Melody’s insights as well. Her clients tend to be professionals who are committed to making their lives better — and aren’t afraid to put in the work necessary to be successful.

“I love working with couples. I love the energy and knowing that I’m not only impacting the couple, but I can also impact the children of the couple and those children’s children. The ripple effect of what I can do is exciting,” Melody Brooke, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

Melody approaches transformation with mind, body, and spiritual exercises. She encourages clients to get in touch with their deeper selves to discover their inner needs. Melody guides them on becoming more in tune with their senses and teaches them to breathe and think before responding or reacting. These practices can reframe situations, so clients can avoid old patterns and stay present in the moment.

Melody also finds her work rewarding on a personal level.

“I love working with couples. I love the energy and knowing that I’m not only impacting the couple, but I can also impact the children of the couple and those children’s children. The ripple effect of what I can do is exciting,” Melody said.

A first session, whether in person or via Skype, is primarily about gathering background information. Melody spends time learning about couples while getting them in the right frame of mind to accomplish the goals they have set.

“I help them reframe the early part of their relationship. I help them remember being in love and reconnect with that. I also get a sense of how they connect now, which helps me predict how the sessions are going to unfold,” Melody said.

She spends the rest of the time going over her “Cycles of the Heart” model and has the couple engage in refocusing on the relationship.

“I have them then commit to closing the exits in the relationship — the things that people do to take their energy out of it,” Melody said.

In the sessions that follow, Melody teaches couples different ways to approach and react to issues within their relationship. Not only within themselves but also with their partner in mind.

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Many singles also fall into an inner victim-rescuer cycle. They flip through different roles in how they treat themselves. Sometimes, they feel bad about themselves and try to compensate by taking care of other people. But, eventually, they feel resentful and angry, like a victim again.

“They also may use things like drugs, food, or work to escape their feelings. What I do is help them intervene in the cycle and teach them ways to stop it,”Melody said. “I then teach them ways to take ownership of their lives and how they talk to themselves.”

That approach empowers singles to work on themselves and gives them an added edge when approaching future relationships more positively.

Melody’s first book, “Cycles of the Heart: A Way Out of the Egocentrism of Everyday Life,” provides readers with the theory behind her successful therapy model. “Cycles of the Heart” not only identifies the snares we are entrapped in from childhood, but it also provides a clear plan for steering out of pain and into compassion. The book is ideal for those who want to dig deeper into Melody’s effective strategies.

Melody Brooke’s “Oh, Wow This Changes Everything” can show couples how to implement relationship-saving strategies.

Her second book, “Oh, Wow, This Changes Everything,” takes the same concepts and makes them a bit more accessible. Melody breaks down why we do things, and, most importantly, how we can make lasting changes. She inspires readers by letting them know they aren’t powerless and can make significant changes that will positively affect their lives.

“The first book is a bit more complex. My second book is in layperson’s terms,” Melody said. “It has more stories, the language is less technical, and it’s a quicker read.”

Melody’s books are so thorough that, periodically, clients can’t wait to read them and put the strategies into practice — even if they’re already visiting her for a couples session.

“Sometimes, l have clients who read the book after our first session, and they’ll come into our second session and say, ‘I read the whole book; I’m good. I’ve got it!’” Melody said. “They completely change how they see themselves and everybody else just by reading the book.”

Clients who follow Melody’s approach and put in the work see results quickly. Melody said those clients often experience tangible health and mental health benefits.

“I’ve had more than one person go off anti-anxiety meds once they’ve changed how they talk to themselves,” Melody said.

Couples can also experience results in a short period. Melody attributes that to a complete shift in the mindsets of both people in the relationship.

Melody is proud when couples begin to turn things around in just a few sessions.

“Many of my couples are done after five sessions. Some of the most exciting moments are when they come in after two sessions and they’re completely different. They say, ‘We are responding to each other differently. How we see each other is different. How we talk to each other is different,’” Melody said.

To help more couples make breakthroughs, Melody is looking into expanding her portfolio of resources. She wants to hold more couples workshops like ones she has done in the past with six to eight couples working through issues over a weekend.

Melody helps her clients create results that are real and long-lasting. She wants her clients to have better relationships with themselves and others by employing her proven strategies.