Background

Dr. Seymour began her career as a clinical researcher, working tirelessly to understand the physical and mental effects of childhood abuse on adulthood and becoming increasingly aware as she did so of the profundity of the body-mind connection.  She also investigated cross-cultural differences in well-being, hoping to learn how our cultural conditions interplay with our individual wellness and how those interconnections can be leveraged to benefit both society and individuals.

Earning her doctorate in social psychology, Dr. Seymour continued to study the ways in which group behavior and individual behavior reciprocally influence one another.  However, she began to feel that she was missing an integral part of the puzzle – the role of the body in individual and societal wellness.  She began work as a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Health Research, helping to craft new regulation and providing guidance for the Federal Register as well as presenting health data and education to government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.

At the height of the pandemic, Dr. Seymour began to feel that her policy-level work was not providing the level of meaning and fulfilment that she had hoped to gain by doing this work.  She decided to pursue working on the individual level to change lives, and enrolled in a Master’s Degree program at the University of Tennessee.  There, she studied the intersection of society, body and mind and learned to interventions and conceptualizations that can lift the lives of individuals.

Towards that end, as she completes her degree she is engaging in a clinical internship with Monarch Wellness & Psychotherapy under the supervision of Carissa Hannum MA.  Dr. Seymour concurrently continues her work at the National Center for Health Research, making her an exceptionally data-driven and well-rounded practitioner who is able to appreciate the multi-faceted levels and layers that interplay in any individual’s life.

Therapeutic Approach

Meg believes that true wellness permeates the levels of body, mind and society.  She skillfully utilizes scientifically backed methods to help clients to become more in tune with their bodies and more aware of what they are feeling.  This awareness in turn drives people to make better decisions, improve their relationships, and to shepard their own impact on society with awareness and care.

Trauma-Informed Care

Simultaneously, Meg is aware that the body does not always feel like a safe space.  Individual and cultural traumas can make it very difficult, even dangerous-feeling, to pay attention to the body and to be aware of one’s feelings.  For this reason, Meg utilizes a ‘felt-safety-first” protocol.  In clinical work, Meg’s first order of business is to ensure that a client feels safe in the office or on telehealth, and safe within their relationship.  She works with a client to help them to really experience and embody a sense of being calm and at ease – what she might call the activation of the ventral vagal nervous system.

She believes in a philosophy of non-judgement and contextualizing, especially when it comes to so-called “self-destructive behaviors” such as eating disorders that can so often fill a person with shame and guilt.

Eating Disorders Treatment

Meg is further narrowing her focus to specialize in helping people who are suffering from anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder.

Meg offers a supportive and helpful presence for people addressing a variety of concerns, including:

• life transitions
• stress management
• anxiety
• depression
• body image difficulties
• chronic health conditions

If you think that Meg might be a good fit for you, please reach out to schedule an intake or a brief consultation call at no charge to you.