Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Moulton.
Hi Melissa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up I always wanted to be an OBGYN. So much so that I dressed up as an OBGYN for halloween in the second grade. When I got to college at UNF, I worked as a scribe in the emergency department to gain experience for my medical school application and realized I didn’t enjoy the hospital setting as much as I thought I would. I also realized organic chemistry is incredibly difficult and decided to continue pursuing exercise science without the expectation of medical school afterwards.
During my freshmen year of college I took a yoga teacher training and soon after started working with Yoga 4 Change, a local yoga non-profit, teaching trauma informed yoga with kids, incarcerated people, people in substance use recovery and veterans. (Shoutout to Kathryn Thomas for this opportunity.) I met a lot of pregnant women in recovery and in the jail classes. I knew I needed to learn beyond what my bachelor’s in exercise science taught me to support them as most incarcerated women need much more support than is available to them, particularly in pregnancy. I learned that the same women I was teaching yoga with each week were being shackled in labor and directly after birth. This disgusted me. I took a doula training, not knowing what a doula was but according to google, becoming a doula would help me help pregnant women advocate for what they needed in labor and that is what I was looking for! I loved the training, met phenomenal women who had been doing the work in the birth realm in Jacksonville with under-resourced women for years and was beyond inspired (shoutout ebony “milkah” jackson) So much so that I thought about pursuing nurse midwifery. I applied to nursing schools for one year and did not get in. I was a nerd with a great GPA so this was a bit confusing but rejection is redirection, right? I’m so glad I was redirected to where I am now!
During the process of applying to nursing schools, I continued working as the director of programs for Yoga 4 Change and was attending births as a doula. I loved working with people for long periods of time and really getting to know them. I also unfortunately witnessed a lot of birth trauma and other traumatic experiences in my clients’ pasts that were impacting their pregnancies, births and postpartum experiences. I decided that although I had always said growing up I would never be a social worker or therapist like my mom, Julie Kuhns, who is another amazing woman who has shaped how I got here today, I was going to follow in her footsteps and get a masters in social work. This would help me help people broaden their support networks and work through traumatic experiences prior to birth to hopefully improve their birth and postpartum outcomes. I began my master of social work program at FSU in the spring of 2020. Covid happened and I was working multiple jobs that overlapped. At the time I was working as a restorative justice coordinator at the center for children’s rights which involved facilitating many types of circles including but not limited to connection circles to deepen connections amongst children and teens in the same schools and after school programs, community conferences as a juvenile diversion program to repair harm and prevent it from happening again and family circles to facilitate a space for connection after a child/teen has been baker acted, removed or reunified from foster care, suspended, arrested/incarcerated, etc. This experience was granted to me because of a phenomenal person named Betsy Dobbins, who is still doing incredible work leading CCR and creating spaces for all children and teens to belong to this day. She encouraged me and taught me all about circle practices, facilitation, the indigenous people who had been facilitating circles for hundreds of years, and how to further connect people to the places, people and resources that will support the resilience they already possess.
At the same time I was beginning work in a medicaid doula pilot program where I would be matched up with clients who were referred by their case managers because they had an urgent need for further support. Through this role I worked with doula clients as young as 12, doula clients who were in abusive relationships, doula clients at risk of human trafficking and more. I continued in this work while also taking private doula clients who were friends or family of mine. Throughout my MSW studies and paid work, over the next 3 years I continued working as a doula, working at the center for children’s rights with youth impacted by the carceral system, working as a health coach at noom and teaching trauma informed yoga. There was a common thread in all of these jobs – helping people identify what and who they need, and helping them learn how to gain access to these resources, people and places. This would turn out to be something I focus on in my work as a therapist to this day!
In spring of 2022, I gave birth to my daughter and had a traumatic postpartum experience for the first few months. This trauma was the springboard for what I now know was perinatal OCD. I thought to myself, if I am in school for social work, have ample knowledge of birth and postpartum on a physiological and emotional level, am clinically trained and I still feel this anxious and alone, I can only imagine the thousands of moms struggling on an even deeper level because they don’t know what they are experiencing can get better and/or they don’t have access to help. My postpartum experience further launched me into wanting to pursue perinatal and reproductive mental health as a therapist.
Upon graduation with my MSW in spring of 2023, I worked as a mental health therapist at group therapy practices and continued to teach prenatal and postpartum yoga at the Baptist Motherhood Space program. This program is a phenomenal resource for perinatal mental health and Dr. Jill Garrett is a fantastic colleague who I continue to learn from. I also continued work with the center for children’s rights and was able to facilitate circles with families of medically complex children and separate circles with interdisciplinary staff at our local children’s hospital.
Throughout my work as a therapist, I was trained in EMDR and was able to support people in reprocessing their birth trauma, medical trauma, sexual trauma, low self esteem, people pleasing and more. EMDR and somatic techniques (many of which I learned through yoga) were becoming huge parts of my work with clients as a therapist. I wanted to help with the preventive aspect of perinatal mental health to hopefully reduce the number of people seeking therapy for birth trauma and thought teaching prenatal yoga with my knowledge of exercise physiology, experience as a birth doula and as a perinatal mental health therapist could be a great combination for empowerment and information for future parents – I just didn’t have a space to do it. My friend Breanna Tivvis who has brought hundreds of people together in the nonprofit space in jacksonville, connected me with Diana Vasquez who was so kind to offer the soma collective space to me on Monday nights and so prenatal yoga jax was born in July of 2024.
One month later I began facilitating a monthly pregnancy and infant loss circle sponsored by Modern Midwives. This was another opportunity I am beyond grateful for and came about because of the funny thing that happens when you live in jacksonville long enough – everyone becomes interconnected, even more so at the beaches! Olivia Martinez, their office manager at the time, had facilitated a postpartum group I went to as a participant back in 2022 and she reached out in need of a facilitator for the pregnancy and infant loss group who was a mental health professional due to the nature of the group. It was a win-win!
I opened my own therapy practice called Grey Area Therapy Jax in October of 2024 and continued teaching prenatal yoga on monday nights. There was a piece to perinatal mental health that felt missing – true collaboration and connection to get birth workers out of their silos. Getting people together to continue the work was something I was taught extensively at the center for children’s rights by facilitating circles in many different environments. I started a birth and postpartum workers’ circle with the hope of bringing birth and postpartum workers together for collaboration, not competition, and to have a space to share about our experiences as the birth and postpartum world is quite a niche place and not all networking spaces are set up to talk about placentas. (lol)
Simultaneously, the yogis I was teaching prenatal yoga with continued having their babies and kept asking “what do I do now that I’m used to having yoga as a weekly rhythm in my life but I had my baby so I can’t come to prenatal?” I finally started a postpartum yoga class that moms, dads, caregivers of any kind can bring their babies to in March 2025. It didn’t feel right denying pregnant women a space to practice yoga just because we didn’t have space so in the summer of 2025 I added a second prenatal yoga class due to the increasing demand and sold out classes.
At this current moment I am on maternity leave with my second child and will resume therapy work in December of 2025. I now have office space in jacksonville beach and continue teaching postpartum yoga classes. My best friend who was my randomly assigned roommate at UNF ten years ago, Melissa Trocchio has been teaching prenatal yoga jax classes while I am on leave and is a big part of how I got to where I am today. I will resume prenatal yoga classes in the spring and will continue to facilitate the pregnancy and infant loss circle once a month in the spring as well. I have continued facilitating the birth and postpartum workers circle through maternity leave. (All of the women who have co-created the birth and postpartum workers circle are a big reason why I am here today as well!)
I got to where I am today because of many things beyond just a few of the amazing women who helped me along the way already mentioned- I had access to higher education which allowed me to meet the people and be exposed to the places I needed to gather experience, make meaningful connections and let that blossom into the wonderful thing that it is today. I also have phenomenal parents who have always encouraged me without pressure or expectation to be anything but happy and kind. They never dimmed my light when I was consistently told I talked a lot and asked too many questions in school. I think asking questions and being genuinely curious is what has gotten my into many doors that otherwise would have been closed. I also had access to high quality childcare through family which millions of people do not have. Without this affordable childcare, I would not have been able to embrace most of these opportunities to further my career and impact in our community once my daughter had been born. My clients – both doula clients and therapy clients have gotten me to where I am. They have trusted me with the most vulnerable parts of their lives and that is not something I take lightly. Anyone who has sat in circle with me or taken a yoga class with me has gotten me to where I am because every experience taught me what to do or not to do, how to cue things differently, how to ask a question to encourage more discussion, etc. Lastly, my husband and now two children. Without my husband holding it down with the kids and making sure I am fed because he is a far better cook than me (lol), I would not have been able to say yes to so many things that entrepreneurship asks of me!
I am deeply passionate about perinatal and reproductive mental health and am beyond grateful that all of these experiences have overlapped to be what it is today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No it was not always smooth- the road was bumpy but always had a second, third or fourth route I could take! I was rejected from nursing school which redirected my path and was very hard to understand at the time.
I also experienced unexpected and mean interactions with a few colleagues that really hurt at the time. Those experiences have informed how I show up with colleagues to this day to make sure I don’t cause the harm that was done to me. Those experiences also gave me an even stronger passion to create the birth and postpartum workers’ circle because I wanted there to be a space where people who work in the same realm could bring up tough topics and repair harm that has happened between one another as needed. Repairing harm and more specifically, how to do it, is something I learned at the center for children’s rights and carry into my work with couples and individuals navigating their own work and interpersonal stressors.
I also had family health struggles along the way that were devastating at the time. These same experiences taught me how to identify what I truly needed to do for myself so I could have the most time possible with my family instead of continuing to people please like I was used to. People pleasing is one of the internal struggles I have worked through over the last 5 years and now it is one of the main themes that many of my therapy clients seek help from me for. I believe this struggle is a struggle many women experience due to a multitude of factors. What an honor it is to work with people as they unravel the intricacies and origins of people pleasing in their lives.`
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a few work roles but the three main roles I find myself in are perinatal and reproductive mental health therapist through my therapy practice, grey area therapy jax, prenatal/postpartum yoga teacher, known as “prenatal yoga jax” and circle facilitator. Currently I facilitate two active monthly circles – a pregnancy and infant loss circle for anyone who has experienced loss whether it was ten days ago or ten years ago (picture with a candle), and a birth and postpartum workers circle. (group picture all dressed up)
As a therapist, I specialize in reproductive mental health across the lifespan and EMDR. This means I work with people experiencing anything from PMDD, trying to conceive/infertility, endometriosis, PCOS, pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR), infant loss, surrogacy, postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, postpartum OCD, sexual trauma, abortion, ADHD, peri-menopause, childfree by choice, menopause, birth trauma, NICU trauma, other medical trauma and life transitions such as divorce and narcissistic abuse.
I am known for using EMDR to help clients reprocess previous birth trauma or other prior traumas in their lives which helps prepare them to have an empowered birth and postpartum experience and/or live a life worth living.
I am proud of my willingness to continue learning and not being afraid to say “I do not know the answer to this but I will help find someone or something that can better support you.” I have seen ample harm caused from therapists and other professionals who are not up front about what they can and can’t do. We will never be the therapist for everyone and that is ok! Being able to willingly speak about that with clients is imperative for their wellbeing so they can get the best care possible.
What sets me apart from others is I can do impactful work with quite a wide range of people that truly helps them heal from trauma, be more present in their bodies and get connected to the people places and things that help them thrive. For example, I can work with a teenager experiencing PMDD in the same day that I support a labor and delivery nurse reprocess trauma they have experienced at work, a parent navigating divorce and narcissistic abuse, a couple who lost their baby at 30 weeks pregnant, a client learning how to assert themselves with family members and set boundaries, a client who experienced a traumatic car accident, a client going through menopause and a career change and then leave my therapy work to be a mom to my own children, teach two prenatal yoga classes that evening, check in via group chat on the wonderful community of birth and postpartum workers I have had the pleasure of meeting and do behind the scenes work connecting clients and/or yogis who attend my classes with local perinatal providers such as doulas, lactation consultants, physical therapists, chiropractors, mom groups, etc.
As a yoga teacher, I teach prenatal and postpartum yoga classes. I am proud of my ability to use my knowledge of exercise physiology, experience having attended 40+ births as a doula and experience giving birth twice myself to adapt the class to whoever walks in and what the needs of that group are. For example, a postpartum yoga class could have a mom who was just cleared at her 6 week appointment from a cesarean birth (c-section), and there could also be a mom with a ten month old crawling around who is looking to build strength. I can adapt what I am cueing in the moment to give the 6 week postpartum mom and the ten month postpartum mom both what they need physically through yoga at the same time while also smiling and playing with the crawling ten month old and not skipping a beat. This allows the mom to continue practicing yoga and get a few moments to herself.
Pricing:
- $120 per 60 minute therapy session in person or telehealth
- $16 per 60 minute prenatal or postpartum yoga class
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.greyareatherapyjax.com/
- Instagram: @greyareatherapyjax @prenatalyogajax
- Facebook: Grey Area Therapy Jax & Prenatal Yoga Jax
- Other: https://linktr.ee/prenatalyogajax
