Chief Operating Officer

Melissa Burke earned her License in Clinical Social Work from San Diego State University. She has over ten years of experience working in mental health care, specializing in trauma and addiction. Melissa started her career as a contractor for the United States Military, working with combat and Special Forces soldiers. Assessing active-duty soldiers, providing therapeutic interventions, and training corpsmen how to assess for acute stress while deployed. She would facilitate evidence-based therapy for depression, anxiety, inter and intra-personal conflicts.  She also worked with the Marine Resiliency Study; a prospective study of factors predictive of PTSD. 

Melissa noted the correlation between mental health problems and substance use, understanding the importance of high quality and effective mental healthcare being the most important element to a person’s quality of life. Melissa has had a private practice in treating individuals and families. She has also created multiple mental health treatment centers that focus on healing a person’s core and helping them overcome mental and emotional problems, including breaking the pattern of substance abuse. Her desire has always been to provide a system of accessible, high-quality mental health services that are safe, evidence-based, and individualized. She has helped to create an assistance program that is capable of addressing union members needs in all aspects of their lives. As one of the founders of Union EAP, she is committed to 24/7 excellency in the care provided to each union member.