Autonomous Psychologist
Clinical and Health Psychologist
OAKVILLE CLINICAL LEAD
Dr. Melissa Howlett
PhD, C.Psych
Children tend to open up with Dr. Melissa without quite knowing why. She creates a space that feels safe and low-pressure, and she always seems to have exactly the right game or activity on hand when words feel like too much. For families who have been searching for someone their child will actually talk to, that matters more than almost anything.
I grew up in Halifax, which means I measure all other places by how far they are from the ocean. I feel a little lost if I go too long without finding my way back to the water.
You don't have to have it figured out.
How Dr. Melissa works
Dr. Melissa works with children and adolescents navigating anxiety, low mood, OCD, emotion dysregulation, attention and learning challenges, trauma, and disruptive behaviours. A significant part of her practice is also dedicated to health psychology, supporting young people through the emotional weight of medical diagnoses, treatment, procedural anxiety, medical trauma, and the ongoing challenges of living with a chronic illness.
Alongside her work at Whole Kids Health, Dr. Melissa provides psychosocial support to youth and families at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) within the Division of Hematology and Oncology. That clinical context shapes how she thinks about children in medical settings and what families navigating serious illness most need from psychological care.
Sessions with Dr. Melissa tend to feel more like spending time together than sitting down to talk about hard things. She uses connecting activities throughout, having found that children often say the truest things when they are focused on something else. She is steady and patient, and she does not mind sitting quietly with a child until they are ready. Her sessions are shaped by a belief that when a child feels truly seen and not judged for what they are carrying, something shifts.
Dr. Melissa values close collaboration with parents, caregivers, educators, and other professionals involved in a child's care, working to build treatment plans that are tailored, meaningful, and realistic for each family.
A first session with Dr. Melissa is low-pressure by design. She may bring an activity or a game — not as a distraction, but because that is often where the real conversation starts. The goal is simply for your child to leave feeling comfortable enough to come back.
Clinical approach
Grounded in evidence. Led by connection.
Dr. Melissa's clinical approach is grounded in evidence-based practice and biopsychosocial formulation, meaning she understands each child not only through their symptoms but through the full context of their life, relationships, and environment. She brings a warm, accepting, and inclusive therapeutic style to every session, with a genuine commitment to acknowledging and respecting each child's background, experiences, and values.
She draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing (MI), integrating these flexibly with attachment and behavioural principles based on what each child and family actually needs. She does not apply a fixed protocol. She follows the child.
Dr. Melissa is particularly drawn to families navigating illness. The diagnosis, the treatment, and everything that builds up emotionally in between. She finds it meaningful to be a steady presence in those moments, and brings both clinical rigour and genuine warmth to some of the most complex situations families face.
I want every child who comes in here to feel like they have someone genuinely in their corner. That is where everything else starts.
What Dr. Melissa works with.
Areas of focus
Languages: English
Background and credentials.
Education and training
PhD, Clinical Psychology
Dalhousie University
BSc (Hons), Psychology
Dalhousie University
Professional AssociationsCollege of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO)
Predoctoral Residency
Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary
PhD Clinical Training
IWK Health Centre, Halifax
CertificationsChildren's Grief and Bereavement Certificate
SickKids CCMH Learning Institute
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