DENVER, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Pia Mellody, internationally recognized author, speaker, and pioneer in the fields of trauma, codependence, and addiction recovery, passed away peacefully at her home in Colorado on May 7, 2025. She was surrounded by her family. Mellody was 82.
Pia Mellody
For more than four decades, Pia Mellody helped reshape the field of behavioral health. As one of the original architects of the clinical model used at The Meadows, a renowned treatment center in Arizona, she developed groundbreaking frameworks for identifying and healing childhood trauma, love addiction, and codependency. Her approach became a cornerstone of modern recovery treatment, influencing thousands of clinicians and transforming the lives of patients across the globe.
A survivor herself, Mellody’s work was deeply personal. Her healing journey gave rise to a professional calling marked by compassion, integrity, and truth. She was known for her ability to articulate the complex nature of emotional wounds and for empowering people to reconnect with their inherent worth through structured, loving guidance.
She authored several widely acclaimed books, including Facing Codependence, Facing Love Addiction, and The Intimacy Factor, which remain essential texts in the field of recovery and personal growth. Her teachings have been referenced by therapists, treatment centers, and recovery programs around the world.
Beyond her public work, Pia was devoted to her spiritual life and her family. Her children remember her not only as a public healer, but as a wise, vibrant, and fiercely loving mother and grandmother. To them, she was simply “Mom.”
Pia Mellody is survived by her four children, thirteen grandchildren, and two sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Jane, and her brother, Pete.
In accordance with her wishes, memorial gifts may be directed to the Self-Realization Fellowship, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, whose teachings profoundly shaped her life.
Her legacy is a living one found in the hearts of those she helped, the clinicians she mentored, and the family who loved her deeply.
SOURCE Pia Mellody Family Trust
