+ Anxiety

• Anxiety will present differently to everyone. I have worked with clients 18+ who are trying to cope with anxiety. There is no perfect treatment for anxiety and I work with each client to identify different tools and techniques that work most effectively for them.

+ BINGE EATING

• Another specialty that I can help clients with is binge eating by taking a CBT and mindfulness counseling approach. It’s not about weight loss, but about changing your behavior so that you feel better around the topic of eating. When someone is binge eating, they usually are eating emotionally and not because of hunger. I have helped many clients who binge eat by focusing on their thoughts and feelings that come up before a binge. We then learn to cope with these thoughts and feelings in a healthier way. You will also become more in sync with what hunger feels like physically so that you can separate your emotions from feelings of hunger.

+ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• CBT has been found to be a successful treatment for individuals struggling with many life issues. We can actually change how we think and feel. We will identify a triggering event, the automatic thought, and the feelings associated with that thought. We will then work to change the negative automatic thought into a more positive one, where we can then start to identify the neutral or positive thought that follows.

+ Depression

• Depression can create significant difficulties in peoples’ lives. Utilizing individual therapy sessions to process through depression and other life difficulties, people can often find a decrease in symptoms. Once there is a decrease in symptoms, clients can continue to work on developing tools to cope with future negative or uncomfortable feelings.

+ Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

• I have utilized DBT with clients who may be confused by the spectrum of their emotions, and struggle to cope with their thoughts and feelings. The four tenets of DBT are mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. By developing skills within those four areas, you can learn to effectively manage your emotions while acknowledging the validity of those emotions.

+ EMDR Therapy

• If you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed by past traumas, EMDR can help! I understand that healing from traumatic occurrences is a personal journey and, through EMDR therapy, I’ll be here to help you each and every step of the way. EMDR is a popular, evidence-based treatment where you focus on the trauma memory while experiencing bilateral stimulation (generally eye movements) at the same time. This process decreases the vividness and emotion stored within your trauma memories, leading to these memories becoming more manageable experiences. Many clients find the structure of EMDR to be appealing.

+ LGBTQIA+ POPULATION

• I can help clients with their coming out process, parenting a child who came out, gender or sexual identity questioning, transgender counseling, experiencing discrimination/bullying, and any other stressors that may arise.

• Your identity may not even be a stressor, but you may be looking for a therapist who you can feel comfortable seeing which is why I think it’s important to express my comfort and knowledge in working with this population. I am an ally, prefer She/Her pronouns, and prefer to be called Michele.

+ Mindfulness-based therapy

• Mindfulness is the practice of staying in the moment and letting go of judgements of ourselves and others. We can often find ourselves projecting into the future, which can cause anxiety, depression, fear, etc. By developing or enhancing techniques such as guided meditation, you can reset your mind into staying in the present moment.

+ PRENATAL & POSTPARTUM MOTHERS

I have enjoyed my work with women on their motherhood journey. I help mothers with fertility issues, prenatal stressors and postpartum depression and anxiety. It is very common for women to experience miscarriages and this isn’t really talked about in our society often. So it can feel lonely and anxiety provoking when you try again to get pregnant. Therapy can be a place to openly talk about your anxiety and worries that come up. It is also okay to continue to feel anxious or stressed while pregnant as you are preparing for a huge life change. And once you give birth to your child, you will find your life shifting daily. You may find the adjustment difficult or that you are emotionally not feeling like yourself. While experiencing any of these stages of motherhood, it is a great time to come in for therapy for support and treatment to help keep you get back on the right track to feeling like your best self again. I have had multiple clients I have seen from the time they started to contemplate trying to get pregnant through their child being born and after. Each stage comes with their own stressors and therapy provides a great amount of support where you can openly express how you’re actually doing. My clients love to utilize my flexibility of telehealth sessions in which we can have video or phone sessions if coming into the office is too difficult.

+ SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNSELING

• I am a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor. I have extensive experience working with people who have unhealthy addictions, such as substance abuse. Often people turn to substances as a way of dealing with their stress. Therapy can provide you with healthier coping tools that will not only help you better manage your stress, but also will guide you in decreasing your substance use. Through this process you will be able to feel happier and more productive.

• I have worked in residential and outpatient settings for close to 10 years in which clients struggle with a variety of substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders. Every recovery process looks different, and I will work with my client on an individual basis to identify the best treatment plan depending on your recovery goals. I have experience and knowledge in harm reduction, Medication Assisted Treatment, and abstinence.

• You may have noticed over time that your one glass of wine or one joint at night after a stressful day has increased overtime. Your drinking or drug use may have reached a point that others around you are commenting about it. You may also find yourself feeling worse emotionally and/or physically after using. Drugs or alcohol are no longer helping you to relax at the end of your day and have become a problem in your life. You have reached a point that you cannot go a day without substances or you are finding yourself indulging more than you feel you should.

• Instead of focusing most of your energy on when the next time you will get to use or drink again will be, I will help you use this energy to focus on staying sober.

• I can help you identify the stressors that lead you to using so that we can then prepare a step-by-step plan of the healthy coping techniques you will use to get through that day. I am here to help you figure out what will help you the most and to help keep you accountable through this process.

• Once you are sober, then we will be able to strengthen other parts of your life including your relationships, job/school, health and self-care.

+ TELEHEALTH

Are you looking for the option of virtual therapy? I offer the option of telehealth sessions (video and phone counseling). If you are residing in New Jersey, New York, or Florida, you are eligible for telehealth services with me. I stay up to date with the latest technology; I’m frequently available, and easy to reach. The best way to reach me is by email or text as I will be able to respond quicker than playing phone tag in between sessions. Telehealth sessions are great if you have a sick child at home, you’re sick yourself, there’s a snow storm, you’re stuck at work, you’re traveling, or you just prefer to do a session while in your pajamas at home. I treat telehealth sessions as the same as in-person and find them just as beneficial in our work together. The ability to do telehealth sessions also comes with flexibility in scheduling.

+ TRAUMA COUNSELING

• I am a Certified Clinicial Trauma Professional. I work with people who have suffered from various forms of trauma. Trauma can leave you feeling lost and confused because it effects the body and mind in different ways. You may have difficulty sleeping at night or feel like your thoughts and emotions are out of your control. Whether it occurred last week or years prior, trauma symptoms can be triggered at any time.

• High rates of depression and anxiety are also common, which sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish from other mental health issues. I use trauma-informed care to help my clients identify and understand the situations in their lives that damaged their sense of safety and wellbeing. I utilize mindfulness, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Narrative therapy tools to help work through the trauma and regain a sense of control. A wide range of life events can cause trauma, and some are easier to recognize than others.

• Trauma-informed therapy is not just for people with an obvious source such as violence and abuse, but also applies to those with a history of loss or difficulties that have impacted the way you experience the world. Once you are able to learn healthy coping skills, you will be able to see the future with a new outlook.

+ YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

• Young adults (20’s and 30’s year olds) have a hard time adulting as their life transitions. Either you’re in college and having a hard time balancing school and relationships or you are transitioning into the working world and finding that it is not everything you’d hope it’d be. You may find that you’ve found success in your career, but continue to experience relationship issues, anxiety, or depression. Whenever there’s a life event, such as graduating from college, getting married, having a baby, a breakup, a career change, etc.) you will feel some form of stress. I help my clients by coming up with ways they can cope with this stress in a healthy way. This is a time in your life where there are constant decisions that need to be made. You may fear that you’re making the wrong decisions and don’t know what your future holds. That’s a common fear for young adults, or young professionals, to experience.