Melanie is a registered psychologist and has a Master's Degree in Psychology from the University of WA. She is the Director of Body Dialogue Australia which was established to provide educational seminars specifically for bariatric surgery patients to help them to optimise outcomes after surgery.

Melanie has worked for over 2 years at Advance Surgical (click here for website) and for more than 6 years at Western Surgical Health (click here for website).  She provides psychological assessment, psycho-education and support to patients, both before and after surgery. Prior to this she was in private practice specialising in over-eating behaviour for 6 years. She has also run group therapy sessions for emotional eaters at the Abbotsford Private Hospital in West Leederville.

She speaks regularly on this topic to a wide range of audiences, such as to medical students, allied health professionals and in the media.

Melanie’s work is motivated by a desire to help people to develop a relaxed, peaceful relationship with food. This also facilitates the healing of their relationship with themselves. She provides professional support that is warm, empathetic and non-judgemental to enable people to make lifelong changes that are meaningful to them. Melanie is committed to supporting patients throughout their bariatric surgery journey. She believes that changing our relationship with food can be achieved through emotional awareness, mindfulness and self-compassion.

Professional affiliations include: The Psychology Board of Australia; The Australian Psychological Society; The Australia New Zealand Association for Eating Disorders; The National Eating Disorder Collaboration, and; The Australia and New Zealand Metabolic and Obesity Surgery Society.

Melanie is happy to talk to you over the phone and answer any questions or queries in relation to her work and the work of Body Dialogue Australia. She can be contacted at mel.g5@bigpond.com.