About Jeanne Melvin, Director

In 1981 Ms. Melvin founded and directed for ten years the Arthritis and Health Resource Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts, a holistic center for people with musculoskeletal pain. There she developed her behavioral, non-drug approach for treating pain and sleep disorders, including the first rehabilitation program for people with fibromyalgia.

In 1991 she returned to Los Angeles and for seven years (1996-2003) acted as clinical director for the highly successful Chronic-Pain and Fibromyalgia Treatment Programs at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a program in which she documented the critical role restorative sleep plays in the behavioral treatment of these disorders. Her patients with severe fibromyalgia sleep disorders and traumatic pain disorders achieved a 30 to 50% reduction in their ten worst symptoms in six weeks. At the same time, these patients discontinued the use of pain killers, muscle relaxants, and sleeping pills. Improvement in their sleep was a key factor in achieving these results.

In 2003 Jeanne Melvin established her current private practice, Solutions for Wellness, in Santa Monica, California. She provides the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program for the UCLA Sleep Medicine Center. She also serves on the Arthritis Foundation’s Research and Training Committee.

Ms. Melvin is a member of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Section of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy and a combined Master’s degree in Family and Marriage Therapy and Education, both from the University of Southern California. She was also the first non-physician Rheumatology Fellow for two years at USC and UCLA Medical Centers, where she was on the medical staffs. Ms. Melvin is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association in recognition of both scholarly and professional activities.

She has written extensively, having fifty-four professional publications to her credit. Among them are twelve books and many journal articles and textbook chapters. She lectures nationally and internationally on chronic pain, fibromyalgia, fatigue and sleep. She has presented her approach to treating sleep disorders at the National Conference of the American College of Rheumatology and is currently writing a book on her approach to behavioral sleep retraining.