Melissa Reneau, MA, LPC-Associate
Couples & Betrayal Trauma Therapist in Katy, TX
Melissa Reneau is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate in Katy, Texas, supervised by Michele Bachman, MA, LPC-S. She works with couples, individuals, and teens who are somewhere in the middle of a transition.
She holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Liberty University, has completed the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy externship, is a Certified Partner Trauma Therapist, is EMDR trained, and is a certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator. She sees couples for marriage and couples counseling, and individuals and teens for anxiety and depression.
She sees clients in person in Katy and online throughout Texas, and is currently accepting new clients.
Who I Work With
I enjoy working with individuals, couples, and teens who are experiencing transitions in their lives. I also work with individuals who are struggling with anxiety or depression. I have experience helping couples and individuals transition to parenthood.
Couples usually come to me at one of two moments: things are actively on fire, or you have gotten stuck in a way that frightens you more than the fighting did. Maybe your relationship feels more difficult now that you have had a child, or a young adult has left the nest. I help couples understand their cycle and try on new ways of interacting. We will create new experiences in the therapy office, and I will give you homework for between sessions.
I also work with people standing at the edge of something — a move, a career change, a house that has emptied out, a marriage ending or beginning, a first baby. Transitions expose whatever you had been managing to avoid. That is uncomfortable, and it is also the useful part.
How I Work
I work to create a nonjudgmental space where clients feel safe and supported enough to really look at their lives. Together we can explore what is going on now and what your next steps might be.
In couples work I lean on Emotionally Focused Therapy, which starts from the premise that most recurring fights are not about the dishes. Underneath the argument there is usually a question — Are you there for me? Do I matter to you? Will you answer when I call? — and once a couple can hear that question underneath the noise, the fight changes shape.
Betrayal Trauma
If you have experienced a betrayal in your relationship, I can walk alongside you while you heal. Your world has been turned upside down. Sure, there were difficulties, but you never thought betrayal was on the horizon. Now you find yourself angry, numb, and you cannot stop thinking about what happened. Maybe you cannot sleep, or you feel like you are looking for danger around every corner.
Together we will work on helping you cope with these difficult emotions and learn skills to help you feel better. Then we will learn how to manage triggers, create boundaries, and engage with a support system.
I also facilitate full therapeutic disclosures to help couples heal from betrayal trauma. This is a planned, therapist-guided truth-telling process used to address relationship betrayals such as infidelity or compulsive behavior.
Training & Credentials
- Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling — Liberty University
- Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, State of Texas — License #90198, supervised by Michele Bachman, MA, LPC-S
- Certified Partner Trauma Therapist (CPTT) — International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals
- APSATS trained — Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists
- Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) externship
- EMDR trained — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- Certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator
Areas of Focus
- Betrayal trauma recovery
- Marriage and couples counseling
- Premarital counseling
- Life transitions
- Becoming a parent
- Teen counseling
- Anxiety
- Depression
COMMON QUESTIONS
WHAT IF MY SPOUSE WILL NOT COME WITH ME TO COUNSELING?
It is common for one person in a relationship to realize counseling is needed while the other is not willing to commit to the process. That is okay. Reach out and let us have a conversation about what is going on. You deserve to have support in the meantime, and when one person gets help there are often positive changes in the relationship as well.
WHAT IS EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED THERAPY?
EFT is a couples therapy model built on attachment research. Rather than teaching communication techniques, it works on the emotional cycle a couple gets stuck in — usually one partner pursuing and one withdrawing — and helps each person say what is actually underneath their side of it. It has one of the strongest research bases in couples therapy.
WILL YOU TAKE SIDES?
No. I help couples identify their negative cycle and try on something new. There are good reasons why your relationship is in this spot. I help you identify and understand those reasons and find a new way forward.
CAN WE COME IF WE ARE NOT SURE WE WANT TO STAY TOGETHER?
Yes, and that is a more common starting point than people assume. Ambivalence is a real place to begin from. The work is figuring out how to make the relationship feel better for both of you.
WE JUST HAD A BABY AND WE ARE NOT OKAY. IS THAT COUPLES WORK, OR SOMETHING ELSE?
Often both, and it is worth saying out loud that the arrival of a child is one of the hardest things a relationship goes through. I work with couples and individuals moving into parenthood. If what is happening looks more like a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, we have a therapist here who specializes in exactly that, and I will say so rather than keep you.
I JUST FOUND OUT MY SPOUSE HAS BEEN UNFAITHFUL, OR HAS A PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
First, I am sorry that you are going through this. Finding out about an affair or a pornography addiction is a tumultuous time, and it is not your fault that your partner has been unfaithful. The world feels unsafe, and you are angry and confused. I help individuals heal from betrayal trauma. We will learn coping skills and boundaries together so that you can start feeling better, and we will explore your past and the ways the betrayal has affected you. Many couples put most of their resources into supporting the betraying or addicted person. You also deserve support while you walk through this.
Getting Started
Here Comes The Sun Counseling is at 908 Avenue B #200 in Katy, Texas. I see clients in person there and online throughout Texas, and I am currently accepting new clients.
If you would rather ask a question before booking, that is fine too — call 832-278-2549 or use the contact form. Every first step here is the same: a free 15-minute phone consultation, at no cost and with no obligation.
If you are in crisis or thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. Both are available 24 hours a day. We are not an emergency service.