CRIS Staff Spotlight | Melissa Miller
CRIS Health and Wellness staff member Melissa Miller was recently honored with the Buckeye Health Unsung Hero Award, recognizing individuals who make a meaningful difference in the health of Ohioans. True to form, Melissa insists the recognition doesn’t belong to her alone.
When she accepted the award, Melissa invited two of her clients, Diana and Mihret, to join her on stage.
“I feel like my clients are the heroes,” she shared. “I probably get way more out of this job than they do. What they’ve been through—I can’t even imagine. I wanted them to experience that moment with me.”
Melissa’s journey to CRIS is rooted in both professional training and lived experience. A registered nurse, she used to work at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where she served as a Nurse Family Partnership nurse—supporting first-time, low-income mothers through pregnancy and early childhood. That role placed her side-by-side with families and introduced her to the profound isolation many refugee and immigrant women experience after resettlement.
“Hearing women say things like, ‘If I had known I’d be so alone, I wouldn’t have come,’ really stayed with me,” Melissa recalls. “Knowing the trauma they came from—and then seeing how isolated they were once they arrived—made me ask, How do we bring these women together so they’re not alone?”
That question ultimately led her to CRIS, where she now serves as a Refugee Health Specialist and Wellness Group Coordinator. Drawing on her nursing background and years of living and working in different cultures—including six years in East Africa and time spent in the Navajo Nation—Melissa approaches her work not as an expert, but as a learner alongside her clients.
At CRIS, Melissa leads health and wellness groups that center connection, creativity, and healing. From art, sewing, and jewelry-making to dance and nature-based groups, each gathering is designed to reduce isolation and help clients regulate stress and trauma—often without ever using stigmatized terms like “mental health.”
Instead, she asks simple questions: Where do you feel stress in your body? What helps you feel calmer? Clients learn grounding and breathing techniques they often take home to their families.
“I love when someone comes back and says, ‘I helped my daughter calm down using the breathing you taught us,’” Melissa says. “That’s when I know it’s spreading beyond the group.”
Despite her humility about the award, Melissa acknowledges how meaningful it was to have refugee and immigrant wellness recognized on a broader stage—especially during a time when these communities face increasing hostility.
“It felt important to say, these are the heroes,” she says. “I’m just a bridge.”
What keeps her showing up every day is simple.
“My clients,” Melissa says. “They teach me so much. So many of them say, ‘Thank you for remembering me.’ Knowing that someone sees them and cares—that’s what keeps me going.”
For CRIS, and for the countless clients whose lives she’s touched, we couldn’t agree more: Melissa is an unsung hero—and we’re so grateful she’s part of our community.