Dr. Melanie McNally, LLC

08/30/2025

The last few weeks up north have been bliss. Just us, the animals, and the perfectly changing weather. Oh and there’s been some berry picking and baby bear s**t hand measuring as well.

08/21/2025

We have a hyperactive dog named Bambi, and I often joke about writing a children’s book called Bambi Ruins Everything. In the story, Bambi tears through a little girl’s life—shredding her favorite toys, scaring her friends away with his jumping and barking, and creating chaos in every room.

But by the end, the girl realizes that Bambi never ruined anything. He made her more flexible, more resilient, and more capable of loving even in the mess.

That’s how growth often shows up. It feels inconvenient, disruptive, and overwhelming in the moment. But over time, we see how it strengthens us in ways we never expected.

That’s the work of coaching, too. Creating space for the mess and helping you recognize how much capacity you already have.

If you’ve been craving a reset, I’m offering TRAIL Reset sessions—a chance to recalibrate how you’re leading yourself right now. Just click the link in my bio.

08/20/2025

Over coffee last week, I was telling a friend about the years I lived in San Francisco in my twenties. Until then, I thought life followed a set trajectory, and if you missed the right boxes along the way you’d failed. But San Francisco cracked that belief wide open. I saw people living in every possible way, building lives that didn’t look like anyone else’s map, and it changed how I understood possibility.

As we talked, my friend pointed out how much I carried that lesson forward—splitting time between two places I love, traveling in my RV, creating a way of living that reflects what matters to me instead of a script handed down.

That conversation reminded me why I coach. Perspective shifts like these are what open people up to their own choices, to ways of leading themselves that feel alive and true. Sometimes it only takes one new angle, one conversation, for the rules you thought were fixed to loosen, and for a different version of your life to come into view.

08/19/2025

When my client "Sarah" downloaded the TRAIL™ Superguide, she was in the middle of what looked like success from the outside—her business was growing, her kids were thriving, and she was the one everyone leaned on. Inside, though, she felt brittle. She woke up every morning already carrying the weight of the day, and by the time she got home at night, she had nothing left for herself.

She had tried all the usual routes: therapy, journaling, productivity tools. None of them addressed the exhaustion she felt in her body, or the constant pressure to keep performing. The Superguide gave her something different. It showed her how to return to her own presence, one pillar at a time—Trust in her own decisions, Regulation of her nervous system, Attunement to what she actually needed, Intentional Rest that didn’t leave her guilty, and Leadership that felt steady rather than strained.

Within weeks, she noticed the shift. She stopped reacting from urgency and started moving with more clarity. She delegated with confidence instead of hesitation. She even found herself breathing differently in the middle of a packed day. The Superguide became less of a resource she skimmed and more of a compass she carried.

If you’ve been wondering how to step off the cycle of holding it all together while quietly running on empty, the TRAIL™ Superguide can be your first step back to steadiness.

Download here →

You’re holding it together on the outside.But on the inside, you’re exhausted. The TRAIL™ Superguide is your way back when the weight of holding it all together feels too heavy and the whisper inside says, I can’t keep doing this. It’s the steady reset that helps you lead yourself with cal...

08/16/2025

With school starting for many and clients needing to take a week off to adjust, I have some openings in my schedule next week! If you've been struggling with an issue, let's talk.

My TRAIL Reset sessions are designed to be a one-and-done recalibration—90 minutes to help you get clear, calm, and back in alignment with what matters most. You’ll leave with practical tools from the TRAIL™ framework (Trust, Regulation, Attunement, Intentional Rest, Leadership) that you can put into action immediately.

I have 2 spots available next week for women or teens who want to reset before fall gets busier.

08/14/2025

Most parents I work with aren’t “helicopters.” They’re exhausted.

Because they’re holding the entire system together—schedules, homework, missing water bottles, emotional meltdowns—and wondering why their brilliant kid still can’t follow through.

It’s not a motivation problem. It’s a systems and executive functioning problem.

And you don’t have to solve it alone.

This fall, I’m launching The Executive Function Trail—a 10-month group experience for families who want to build steadier routines, shared responsibility, and self-leadership (for both parents and teens).

🧠 Monthly parent coaching calls
🎯 Monthly skills-based sessions for tweens/teens
⚙️ Optional private coaching add-ons
🌲 Grounded in the TRAIL™ Framework (Trust, Regulation, Attunement, Intentional Rest, Leadership)

Early bird pricing ends August 15 and we start in September.

If this school year needs a reset, I’d love to walk the trail with you. Book a free consult below so we can see if this group is a good fit for you and your family.

This free consultation is to discuss your needs (or the needs of your adolescent) so we can decide if coaching is the right fit.

08/10/2025

Words cannot begin to describe how incredible this year’s American Psychological Association’s annual conference has been. Truly mind blowing. From learning more about the research on menopause to hearing the top leaders in our country talk about using psychology to navigate political toxic polarization and civil discourse to deep dives into the good and bad of AI. And I didn’t even mention getting to connect with colleagues from around the globe and meeting both the editor-in-chief and the CEO of the APA. This has truly been the best professional conference I’ve ever attended. I will be thinking about it and going over all the pages of notes that I took and reshaping my coaching practice in the weeks and months to come.

I need to add how much I love this profession. The APA makes clear that as psychologists, we need to speak up for marginalized communities, we need to use our skills to make this world better for everyone, we need to be inclusive in every possible way, and we need to stand up for what’s right, even if it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. I am so grateful to be part of a profession that values integrity above all else.

07/31/2025

Still taking it in. I had the honor of presenting a master class at RTRX this year- teaching on emotional intelligence, nervous system leadership, and how high functioning burnout quietly rewires our sense of self.

What stayed with me the most weren’t the slides or the stage, but the people who came up to me afterward. The ones who whispered that they’re holding it all, but feel like they’re slipping. The ones navigating menopause, caretaking, career pressure, and still showing up with grit no one sees.

We talked about what it means to lead from steadiness when everything feels uncertain. How to recognize the early signs that you’re leaking energy. And how to reset without walking away from everything you’ve built.

It was two hours of presents, truth, and real recalibration. I’m grateful to have shared it. And even more grateful for what it sparked.

07/29/2025

This guy ❤️ I could tell you all the ways he shows his love for me and all the things he does to care for the creatures of this world, but there’s no way I could do it justice. I’m just so incredibly lucky to have him.

07/26/2025

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means to really listen. One of my clients said she had to adjust to how I listen, because I wasn’t checking boxes or waiting for my turn to speak. I was there, tracking every thread, reflecting what mattered. And it made me realize: when someone feels fully heard, not managed or diagnosed or guided toward a faster answer, something shifts. Their own voice gets clearer. Their pace gets calmer. And they start trusting that’s true inside them is worth listening to, too.

If that sounds like something you’re ready for, I’ve got a few consult spots open. You can schedule through the link in my bio.

07/22/2025

Attunement isn’t just being present though. It’s the ability to read between the lines, and to track tone shifts, facial cues, and the emotional rhythms of others. When a teen shrugs and says “whatever,” attunement hears the worry underneath. When a colleague withdraws in a meeting, attunement notices the tension behind the silence. It’s how trust is built and is a key part of emotionally intelligent leadership.

07/19/2025

I texted this picture to my friend and she responded with “you look so happy!” There’s just something about swimming that brings me home to myself. The quiet under the surface, the rhythm of my breathing, the feeling of gliding forward without needing to push harder. These days, as the transition into menopause creates all kinds of physical and mental struggles, swimming is where I feel more clear, more in my body, and more in tune with my own mind.

And this is what Regulation feels like when it’s working. And it’s what so many of the women I work with are craving. They want a way back to themselves. A way to remember what clarity feels like, what peace actually feels like in their body, and what it’s like to move through the world from that place again.

For me, it’s the pool. For you, it might be something else entirely. The point isn’t what it is, the point is that you have to find it. And when you do, everything inside you starts to line up again.