Melissa Porrey is the Senior Advisor Organizational Resilience & Training Services at The KonTerra Group with over 13 years of experience in the mental health field and humanitarian sector.

As a licensed clinical mental health counselor with a focus on grief, trauma, and humanitarian work, Melissa’s experience includes managing a global resiliency program for the American Red Cross; building and delivering psychological first aid and other psychoeducational curricula for service members, veterans, and military families; and overseeing a clinical inpatient and outpatient mental health program for survivors of traumatic injury. She’s also served as an interventionist for a DOD-funded PTSD research study and oversaw the casework department for a nonprofit that provides bereavement support to the families of fallen service members. Melissa first joined KonTerra in 2021 as the Project Director for the USAID Staff Care Service Center, a project that provided staff care, wellness, and resilience support to USAID’s 11,000 employees and their families.

Melissa is a people- and planet-loving humanitarian who found her passion for mental health when she left a career in journalism to engage with the world as a student, volunteer, and impassioned traveler, living and studying abroad in Australia and Ghana. Melissa is also a published writer who works as a freelancer contributing articles related to mental and overall health. When she’s not working with others on their mental wellness, you’ll find her on a yoga mat, in the climbing gym, or out on a hiking trail. Melissa lives in Northern VA with her husband and two children.