About Michael
Michael Leffingwell is a licensed professional counselor with 13 years of experience. He focuses on stress and anxiety and helps people work through trauma, grief, and issues with self-esteem. His style is respectful and straightforward.
He aims to make the first step feel manageable for anyone who reaches out. Michael builds a simple plan with each person. He listens to what matters most and adjusts conversations to fit those needs.
Background and approach
Sessions center on real-life changes - finding ways to manage stress, steady emotions after loss or trauma, and rebuild confidence. He uses relationship-focused methods to look at how early attachment patterns affect current struggles. He also draws on cognitive behavioral tools to spot unhelpful thinking and try new ways of reacting.
Somatic techniques are used when body tension or physical responses are part of someone’s distress. When someone needs short-term focus, Michael can use solution-focused techniques to set practical goals and steps. He works at a pace the person chooses and checks in on what is working.
Over time he helps people track small changes that add up to better coping and clearer choices. Michael practices in Texas and holds the LPC credential, Licensed Professional Counselor. He communicates in English and offers sessions via video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging.
Getting started begins by completing a brief matching form and scheduling a session.
Therapeutic approaches for online care
Michael often uses attachment-based work to examine how early relationships shape current patterns. This approach helps people understand why they react certain ways and how to build steadier connections with others.He also draws on cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT to identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors. CBT is useful for managing anxiety and stress by breaking problems into clear, practical steps.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, symptoms, and preferences and then decide together what to try first. That collaboration helps keep sessions relevant and focused on measurable change.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and needs. Video is helpful for a fuller conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when lower bandwidth or no camera is preferred. Live chat and text sessions work well for brief check-ins, quick coping strategies, or when a written record of ideas is helpful. These options make it easier to get consistent support while juggling work, family, or treatment schedules.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Texas
- Languages
- English
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