About Michael
Michael Smith is a licensed mental health counselor with 38 years of clinical experience based in New York. He helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, depression, mood swings, or difficult life changes. He uses straightforward talk and practical steps so clients can manage day-to-day challenges more effectively.
In sessions he listens closely and follows the client's lead while offering clear tools when needed. He mixes client-centered work with cognitive behavioral techniques to identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors.
Background and approach
Mindfulness exercises are used to reduce reactivity and build calm in stressful moments. Michael also draws on existential ideas to help people find meaning when they feel stuck or face large transitions. Motivational interviewing is part of his approach when people want help with addictions or making lasting changes.
The aim is to match strategies to what a person needs right now, not to push a single method. Clients can expect practical goals, simple homework when useful, and a steady focus on solutions that fit everyday life. Sessions are paced to each person's comfort level and concerns.
He works with a wide range of issues including trauma, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive patterns, and eating or sleeping problems. Michael’s background spans mood disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and long-term psychotherapy work. He offers in-person and online session formats and supports people looking for help with career stress, self-esteem, isolation, or navigating aging and geriatric challenges.
How approaches and online sessions work together
Michael often uses client-centered therapy, which focuses on listening closely and following what matters most to the person in the room. This approach helps build trust and makes it easier to tackle anxiety, stress, and relationship concerns. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is used to identify unhelpful thoughts and test small behavior changes that can reduce panic, depression, and compulsive patterns.Finding the right approach is part of the work. He will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and how they respond to different techniques. Together they decide whether to emphasize CBT tools, mindfulness practice, or more reflective existential questions, with adjustments over time based on progress and comfort.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit varied schedules. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and guided exercises, while phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging suit brief check-ins, written reflections, or people who prefer typing. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into daily life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Career difficulties
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 38 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English
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