After growing up in the Texas panhandle in a musical family, she attended SMU on a music scholarship (she's a fiddle player), graduated with an English degree and headed for graduate school, mainly because there's nothing else to do with an English degree and she couldn't deal with the thought of being a poor musician for the rest of her life. While earning a Masters degree in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary, she took her first counseling course and was hooked. She later helped to found and develop DTS's MA in Biblical Counseling program and taught in the counseling department there. She also holds a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology, specializing in Marriage and Family Therapy, from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, where she also taught as a member of the adjunct faculty.

Melanie is a Licensed Professional Counselor as well as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and an approved LPC and LMFT supervisor.

She specializes in "last-ditch" marital cases, taking on the trickiest, stickiest relationship issues after couples have all but given up. She also works with troubled families (many of whom are dealing with those difficult teenage years), as well as a variety of other issues, including spousal abuse, depression, chronic illness, and divorce recovery. Melanie works in The LifeWorks Group's Dallas office.

In addition to leading The LifeWorks Group, Melanie still plays her fiddle and is the author of several novels, including the acclaimed Dylan Foster trilogy. When the Day of Evil Comes, The Soul Hunter, and My Soul to Keep have all been published by WaterBrook Multnomah, a division of Random House.