Melanie A. Trimble
MA, RDT, LPC, K-12 Certified Theatre Teacher

Melanie Trimble wears may hats and we are thankful she shares her time with us at Sunnyside Academy as our resident Arts Infusion Teacher.

Melanie is a multidisciplinary professional with a career spanning theatre arts, mental health, activism, and education. Melanie has led experimental start-up programs bringing enrichment, the arts and mental
health services to frequently neglected populations in rural and urban settings, in New York, New Jersey, South Carolina and abroad. She brings experience in reaching highly stressed and traumatized children
and families across ethnicities and cultures.

She currently works through her private practice, Purposeful, LLC, providing individual therapy,
specialized arts education (especially focusing on students with different abilities, and under-resourced
populations), and consulting/partnering on experimental community theatre projects. She is also an
Adjunct Professor of Theatre at Midlands Technical College. Being a Board Member of Trustus Theatre,
and a volunteer with Free Mom Hugs of the Midlands, the Columbia Area League of Women Voters and
the Local Advocacy Team for the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance allow her to contribute to the local
community.

Past settings for theatre, education, and clinical work include public schools, micro schools, university
settings, professional and community theatres, hospital and clinic settings - including inpatient units,
national and international conferences, peace-keeping trainings, international gatherings for artists and
activists, art galleries, and community gatherings spots.

Melanie holds a graduate degree in Drama Therapy from New York University’s Steinhardt School of
Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she won the Graduate School’s Samuel Eshborn
Service Award and the Drama Therapy Program’s Contribution to the Field Award. She also received a
post-graduate certificate from the International Trauma Studies Program in NY the first year of its
existence, and a BA in Theatre from the University of South Carolina. She maintains active licensure as a
SC Licensed Professional Counselor, a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT), and a K-12 SC Certified
Theatre Teacher (8 years in the elementary drama classroom), is has a NY State License in Creative Arts
Therapy that is currently inactive.

Sampling of full time and consultancy partners: Sunnyside Academy - Peace of Mind Microschool, SC
Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Richland School District One, Warehouse Theatre,
Greenville, USC Dept of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, SC Department of Mental Health -
ARC, International Institute of New Jersey, Safe Horizons, NYC, Lexington County Department of Mental
Health, Woodhull Hospital -Psychiatric Units, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, Victims Information Bureau of Central
Islip, Long Island NY, St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, Harlem, NYC, a history of theatre projects and
youth/community development in many locations in Europe and the US.