Increase Your Capacity to Better Regulate Your Nervous System
CONFIDENTLY NAVIGATE CHALLENGES
Enhance Well-being, Skill-Sets, and Meaningful Connections
Licensed Psychologist | Serving 42+ States from Florida’s 🚀Space Coast
Heal and grow from where you are now.
Short-term, evidence-based psychotherapy for adolescents 11+ and adults struggling with anxiety | trauma | functional neurological disorder (FND). Let’s work together to support your growth to shift from hard shelled survival to deep current mastery.
Like the sea turtle who survives against all odds yet a quiet symbol of fortitude, you, too, can move with intention and gain inner-strength from within.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
Ready to find your virtual belonging place?
“If you are reading this, you are now Within Range—of learning something meaningful: an opportunity to heal and strengthen from within yourself, though not all by yourself. Within RANGE is a very small specialized practice that spans over 42+ States for Telepsychology, where clients can expect reliable, expert guidance. Let’s chat to see if we make a good team” —Dr. Mel and Wally Goldendoodle, PSYPACT Provider, EMDRIA™ Certified, & EQUUSOMA® Practitioner Level 1
RESET AND RECALIBRATE
Weighed down and burdened?
Although donkeys can carry around 20% of their body weight, they also get overburdened and shut down. I’ve studied how insights from equines, especially donkeys, often inspire and instill hope. How? They optimally regulate their nervous system and shift their loads wisely. Donkeys’ keen navigation of uncertainty can kickstart insight, enhance regulation, and expand capacity for joy. Curious about how Equine Inspired Psychotherapy can help you? Let’s chat.
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Resources
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EXPERT AND EFFECTIVE GUIDANCE
Let’s create an action plan to reset and reconnect
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While everyone has their own unique dream vocabulary, there are common dream themes that arise in therapy (e.g., teeth falling out, moving in slow motion, flying, being chased, taking a test etc.).
Dreams can be explored for relevance and therapeutic insights that support emotional growth and healing.
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Dr. Jenkins-Fernández appreciates how equines, especially donkeys, help instill hope and inspire clients to make lasting changes in psychotherapy. That is why she calls it EIP.
Clients don’t have to actually spend time with donkeys to benefit from their wisdom. But it helps to have a psychologist who has extensive experience with jackasses!
Donkeys express and conceal fear in subtle ways that closely resemble a range of human responses (e.g., subtle body language, shut-down, facial expressions, vocalizations, and behavior). They also have powerful mechanisms to reset their nervous system (e.g., environment shift, soothing behaviors, and social connection).
By recognizing and understanding how equines manage stress and regulate responses, we can apply comparable strategies, such as grounding techniques, safe social connections, and calming routines to improve our emotional well-being and nervous system balance.
While not all stress is unproductive, it can mount-up into an unrelenting strain, causing overload on our nervous system.
Short-term virtual EIP can help improve coping mechanisms and navigate more effective ways to engage the nervous system.
In-person ground-based EIP incorporates equines into the session while honoring each person’s and equine’s nervous systems, connections, and participation levels.
Already in therapy and want to add one or a few EIP in-person sessions or Equine Facilitated-EMDR (EF-EMDR)?
The next step is a referral from your mental health provider.
Adjunct EIP and EF-EMDR is great way to support the work you are already doing in therapy.
Within RANGE'S Motto: Learn to: "Adapt, Endure. Like the donkey in pursuit, safeguard in uncertainty, move with intentionality” 🫏 Dr. Mel
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EMDR promotes healing from traumatic memories, images, and sensations without re-telling the story or reliving the events. It’s a 'bottom-up' therapy with powerful results and integrates processed memories. The EMDR Nightmare Protocol also resolves nightmares for restful sleep 🐑 and refreshed morning.
Equines can be a source of inspiration as an EMDR resource for a person with a broken heart, as equines have also experienced trauma and loss. Yet, both are capable of healing, resetting, and reconnecting in a secure place within an accepting herd.
Sometimes equines can be both the source of pain and healing from trauma due to an equine related trauma or accident. Dr. Mel has observed that for the horse-lover-at-heart, equines often become a source of immense healing and peace.
In-Person EF-EMDR and In-Office EMDR (no equines)
In-person 🐴 Equine Facilitated-EMDR (EF-EMDR) incorporates an equine directly into 8-phases of EMDR. All ground based with no riding or mounted activities. Provided in Cocoa, FL.
In-Office 🏢 EMDR is provided in Melbourne, FL
Virtual 💻 EMDR (Telepsychology) is available
EMDR Group-Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP) is offered 🏢|💻|🐴
Dr. Mel is EMDR-International Association (EMDRIA™) Certified and 🐴Equilateral® Trained (EF-EMDR)
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A person diagnosed with FND is typically integrated into a multidisciplinary approach (e.g., PT/OT, PCP or Pediatrician, Psychiatrist) in treating FND symptoms (e.g., seizures, weakness, speech, tremors etc.) that stem from disruptions in the nervous system.
The goal is to help clients regain control over their symptoms, improve daily functioning, and enhance quality of life through tailored, evidence-based interventions. Psychotherapy approaches vary depending upon the client:
⬇️ Top-Down, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to discus thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and make positive changes and shifts to problematic thinking errors and behaviors.
⬆️ Bottom-Up, such as Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) to process sensations, memories, and images related to distress so that the body can reset and connect to adaptive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
⬆️🐴⬇️ Equine Assisted and Inspired Therapy provide both Top-Down and Bottom-Up approaches to adaptively integrate sensations, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
Within RANGE receives a consultation for FND only therapy AFTER the FND diagnosis is already established by a medical doctor (i.e., a Neurologist) due to the layers of diagnostic complexity of positive clinical signs of FND and ruled out structural neurological conditions (e.g., stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, TBI etc.).
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Short-term integrative psychotherapy to process and relieve distress in the mind, body, and spirit. Each client determines how much integration they are interested in exploring.
Consultation with the client’s primary care physician, nutritionist, or clergy may also be recommended depending upon each client’s goals and preferences.
THE PROCESS
Honoring Your Pathway
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BEGIN WITH A CONSULTATION
Let's chat with a free 15-minute consultation to determine if we’re a good fit to work together to accomplish your goal(s). Click on the owl with the phone above to fill out the confidential scheduling form or click here.
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CREATE A STRATEGIC PLAN
Your “psychological enhancement betterment plan” or action plan is unique to you and not a one-size-fits-all approach. Diagnostic precision tools provide clarity for your pathway forward. Aimed for well-being, refined skill-sets, and meaningful connections..
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APPLY CHANGES
Change is difficult but attainable with expert, reliable and steady support. Confidently approach challenges with improved skills, insights, and greater capacity to regulate your nervous system to reset and recalibrate to meet the demands of life and relax.
ABOUT ME
Hello, I’m Dr. Mel
When you’re Within Range, you’re seen, heard, and accepted in real time. Too much mental static? Let’s reset. How? Healing is a journey and sometimes, the most reliable partner on the rocky trail isn’t the strongest or the fastest, but the one who stays steady under pressure. 🌄 Dr. Melissa (Dr. Mel) Jenkins-Fernández, Psy.D., is like a surefooted donkey with you along the winding pathway to assist you in evaluating mental roadblocks and exploring options, resulting in “Aha!” clarity. Curious how I can be an asset?
FAQS
Answering your questions
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💻Online Therapy Details: Telepsychology (virtual) on a secure and confidential HIPAA compliant platform
Virtual Sessions for Florida and residents of PSYPACT states, territory, and district
PSYPACT:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) allows authorized licensed psychologists to practice telepsychology across the nation.
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$250: for 90-minute virtual Psychiatric Intake
$200: for 60-minute Psychotherapy Sessions
$200: for 60-minute Equine Inspired Psychotherapy (EIP) Sessions
InsuranceOut of Network
A superbill is provided after the session for client to submit to their insurance company for reimbursement options
Accepted payment includes
Credit or Debit cards, Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flex Savings Account (FSA)
“Step Up For Students” (SUFS) for recipients of Florida’s SUFS specialized services scholarships. Schedule a consultation here
If you use your Out-of-Network (OON) insurance benefit, you can request an itemized receipt from Within RANGE (i.e., receipt of payment, diagnosis, and CPT codes), to be provided for you to submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement
Click here for some helpful questions to ask your insurance company.
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Within Range Counseling and Consultation Services, PLLC
Licensed in Florida #PY12372
PSYPACT Mobility #4660
Practicing Since 2006
EMDR-International Association (EMDRIA™) Certified Clinician
🎓Education:
Psycho-Oncology Postdoctoral Fellowship (2007) in the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center: Washington University School of Medicine & Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO
APA Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship (2006) in the Vanderbilt Consortium in VAMCs Nashville and Murfreesboro, TN
Psy.D. & M.A. in Clinical Psychology (2006) in an APA accredited program from Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA with ✝️ Christian integration, with honors and as an Outstanding Graduate
Served honorably in the U.S. Air Force and is a third generation Veteran
Work Experience: Equine assisted program development and services, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC), U.S. Army Civilian Embedded Psychologist, private practice, and nursing home consultation
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Because you want a plan, a process, and a personalized path to meaningful change. You expect clinical expertise, compassion, appreciation for neurodivergent thinkers, and thoughtful integration of the human–animal connection.
🚫 Within Range is not the right fit for anyone uninterested in changing.
🌱 Psychotherapy is about transformation. You are Within Range of healing when you take that first step and request an Intro Call.
🎓 Dr. Melissa (“Dr. Mel”) Jenkins-Fernández, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in Florida. She is the owner of Within Range Counseling and Consultation Services, PLLC, which is a very small specialized practice focused on goal-oriented short-term therapy.
Person Centered, Cognitive-Behavioral, Eye-Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, Existential, Experiential, Somatic Focused, and Equine Inspired Psychotherapy tailored to your needs
Her work spans various populations and settings—from adolescents 11+ and military personnel to emergency departments, classrooms, and equine pastures—reflecting professional dedication to helping you flourish
💟 Due to her sensitivity of the human-animal bond, she is often requested to help people heal from: being hurt by an animal (i.e., especially horses), loss of a beloved animal, and various other significant life traumas
Dr. Mel often integrates inspirational knowledge of dogs, birds, animals, reptiles, and of course equines into psychotherapy
The Strategy: create a personalized action plan to strengthen well-being, expand coping and capacity resources, and foster deeper, more fulfilling connections—so you can move forward with confidence and a deeper understanding of what drives you, what holds you back, and how to break through unhelpful patterns.
Identify and process mental roadblocks in order to explore solutions so that you gain more clarity, resolve, and direction
🧭 Hiring a psychologist is a significant personal decision and investment in your well-being.
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If after the consultation Intro Call we agree to be a good fit to work together: Within RANGE sets an appointment and instructions to review and sign documentation (e.g., HIPAA and Privacy Practices, Informed Consent, Release of Information, a Good Faith Estimate under the “No Surprise Act” and brief assessments)
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Psychotherapy and Personal Growth for Anxiety and Distress, Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), Post-Traumatic Stress, and Equine and Animal Incident & Traumatic Event(s)
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EquiLateral® Equine Assisted-Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EA-EMDR)
Equine Assisted Growth & Learning Association (EAGALA) Military Individual Provider Designation with dual Certification: Mental Health (MH) Professional and Equine Specialist (ES). Ground based, MH & ES Team, Solution Oriented, and Evidence Driven. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and Learning (EAL)
EQUUSOMA® Level 1: “Time to feel felt and get gotten™” Horse-Human Trauma Recovery is the integration of Somatic Experiencing® in human-equine relationships (EQUUSOMA)
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy-International Association (EMDRIA™) Certified Clinician
EMDR Group-Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP): a trauma-processing method based on EMDR to safely reduce distress without verbally sharing traumatic experiences, using guided worksheets, bilateral stimulation, and resource-building techniques and Recent-Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP) trained
O.K. Corral “Red” Series Certified Clinician in EAP & EAL “Crisis Management”
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In-person Equine Inspired Psychotherapy (EIP) in Cocoa, FL provides ground-based interactions with equines while honoring each person's and equine's nervous systems, connections, and participation levels.
EIP and Equine Facilitated-EMDR are typically provided as a supplement to a client’s on-going mental health treatment and not as a primary treatment modality.
EMDR Group-Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP): a trauma-processing method based on EMDR to safely reduce distress without verbally sharing traumatic experiences, using guided worksheets, bilateral stimulation, and resource-building techniques 🐴
If you or your child are already in psychotherapy and looking to add one or more EIP sessions in addition to your therapy or interested in Equine Facilitated-EMDR? A referral from your or their mental health provider is required to get started. 📲 Request Intro Call to explore next steps to get started.
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Short-term Psychotherapy for traumatic incident(s), anxiety and distress, post-traumatic growth, and FND is provided in Melbourne, FL. Limited time-slots due to small specialized practice size. Inquire for specific time and day on the Request Intro Call form.
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HBRD isn’t a formal diagnosis, but the impact is emotionally, financially, and physically draining. Whether it’s the chronic tension of “what now?” in the barn, continual boundary violations, or isolation in high-pressure performance environments, HBRD can lead to nervous system dysregulation that affects both you and your horse(s).
In other words, even when the drama is “over” you're stuck carrying the emotional fallout, because it’s not over for your nervous system 🪫
Equines offer a therapeutic connection that helps emotional regulation and trust with their human. But if HBRD or unspoken trauma causes you to instead feel a sense of dread and erodes your ability to feel safe and grounded even around the equines you love the most, you may want to consider short-term psychotherapy for a guided 🔄️ reset and 🔋recharge.
Psychotherapy for Equestrians 🐎
Dr. Mel understands HBRD along with the full spectrum of equestrian life—from the joy of connection to the silent stressors behind the scenes to the sorrow of empty spaces. She offers compassionate short-term therapy for equestrians and horse lovers to heal emotional pain, restore balance, and move forward with greater clarity and peace in and out of the saddle.
Results Beyond the Arena
Whether you're a show rider, trainer, equine professional, or trail rider seeking emotional steadiness, therapy can help you reconnect within yourself, with your horse(s), and loved ones.
Within Range WELCOMES Horse Barn Related Drama (HBRD) because often there is trauma also needing healing and the skills gained in therapy equip you to also confidently gauge and navigate the drama challenges with confidence.
🚧 If difficult dynamics are impacting your equine program, business, or personal well-being, let’s talk. 📲 Request Intro Call to explore next steps for therapy or program evaluation.