Areas I Teach
Melissa Gabel is a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) and licensed to practice music therapy in the state of Oregon. She is the clinical coordinator for the °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ Music Therapy (PUMT) program. Melissa received her Bachelor of Music (BM) in Music Therapy and Master of Music Education (MME) in Music Therapy from the University of Kansas.
Before returning to the University of Kansas for her Master's Degree, Melissa completed her clinical internship at a community mental health center in Topeka, KS and worked as a Music Therapist/Activity Therapy at the Topeka Correctional Facility for Women. She completed subcontract work with children and adolescents in a psychiatric treatment facility in Topeka, Kansas. Melissa was the owner and practitioner of a private practice, Solace & Sound, LLC, serving in the Northeast Kansas Area and Kansas City Metro while also working as a part-time hospice music therapist with Ascend Hospice. She completed a year-long intensive training to become a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)-informed music therapy and emphasizes the use of mindfulness and tangible coping skills in her practice.
When she returned to the University of Kansas for her Master's Degree, Melissa worked as a graduate teaching assistant and clinical supervisor in there music therapy program and clinic. She supervised undergraduate and Master's equivalency students in a variety of clinical settings such as early intervention, memory care, individuals with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities, and community music therapy settings. Her Master's thesis was a qualitative study in which piloted a workbook she developed to guide music therapists in integrating psychotherapy approaches into their music therapy practice.
Melissa was adopted from China at a young age during the One Child Policy and grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro in Texas. Her primary instrument is flute/piccolo and she enjoyed being a part of her high school and college marching bands. When Melissa is not teaching coursework or supervising students at Pacific, she trains in the aerial arts, hikes, goes paddle boarding, and enjoys board games. She lives with her husband and three cats in Forest Grove, OR.