Meet Heather Liv Melver, Msw, LSWAIC
You deserve a space where you can breathe.
I’m Heather Liv, a Telehealth therapist and social worker supporting
women, LGBTQIA+ folks , and humans of other intersectional identities
as we navigate life within oppressive systems.
Based out of Tacoma, WA my approach is relational, affirming, and rooted in authenticity. I believe healing can include both grounded reflection and intuitive knowing…that could mean evidence-based practice, well timed humor (or primal scream), and a little bit of “woo” if it fits for you.
Hear me when I Say:
You are not the problem.
You don’t need fixing.
Come as you are.
This is a space where all parts of you are welcome, including the parts that have learned to survive, protect, adapt, and endure.
My practice is rooted in affirming, anti-oppressive care that honors the complexity of who you are. I believe healing begins with context, connection and compassion.
Healing often means clarifying values, breaking cycles, reconnecting with yourself, and understanding your experiences through the lens of trauma and survival. Rather than viewing anxiety, depression, panic, or burnout as personal failure or simply the pathology of a diagnosis, we explore the systems, relationships, and lived experiences that have shaped your emotional world.
Many of us have learned to move through the world carrying overwhelm, self-blame, exhaustion, or disconnection without fully recognizing the weight of what we’ve survived. Together, we can co-create the space to really honor your experience by slowing down, and exploring your world with curiosity and compassion. Rather than striving for perfect safety, our work tends to focus on building steadiness, connection, support, and trust in yourself as you navigate an uncertain world.
How I work
Healing begins when we shift from: what if to even if.
My approach to therapy is collaborative, relational, and grounded in the understanding that our emotional lives do not exist outside the systems, relationships, and experiences that shape us. Together, we explore the patterns, protective responses, and survival strategies that developed over time with curiosity rather than judgment.
In our work, we create space for reflection, self-trust, and transformation. Rather than focusing on “fixing” who you are, therapy can become a place to reconnect with yourself, move through uncertainty with greater support and agency, and begin imagining new ways of living beyond survival alone.
Therapy with me is…
01collaborative
Therapy is not something done to you. Our work together is grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and honoring your lived experience. You are the expert on your life, and we move at a pace that feels supportive and sustainable.
02Anti-Oppressive
I believe emotional pain cannot be separated from the systems we live within. Together, we explore your experiences within the context of trauma, identity, relationships, systemic oppression, disability, and survival — rather than reducing them to pathology alone.
03Compassionate
Many of the patterns that bring people to therapy began as ways of surviving. Rather than approaching yourself with shame or self-blame, therapy can become a space for greater self-understanding, gentleness, and care.
04Illuminating &Transformative
Healing is not about becoming a different person. It can mean reconnecting with yourself, understanding the stories and systems that shaped you, breaking cycles, and creating new ways of moving through the world with greater clarity, agency, and self-trust.
specializing in:
Shes, Gays & Theys
Disability & Chronic Illness
Burnout & Overwhelm
Grief & Trauma
My background
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LSWAIC Washington State: SWIA.SC.61544331
School Social Worker New Jersey
Post-Masters Certificate in School Counseling
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Bachelor of Arts, Social Work & Theater from Pacific Lutheran University (1997)
Masters of Social Work, Clinical Social Work from Columbia University (2002)
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National Association of Social Workers
