About Michele
Michele Downey is a California licensed marriage and family therapist with 35 years of experience. She focuses on helping people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, or relationship struggles. Michele aims to treat each person with respect, sensitivity, and compassion while tailoring conversations to their needs.
Her work emphasizes practical, real-world steps. Michele listens to what feels most urgent and then helps break problems into smaller, manageable pieces.
Background and approach
She uses straightforward strategies that fit each person's day-to-day life instead of one-size-fits-all plans. Over three and a half decades she has supported people through grief, trauma and abuse, caregiving strain, and midlife changes. Michele also helps with intimacy-related issues, parenting concerns, sleep and eating difficulties, and managing mood disorders.
Her background includes helping with addiction and codependency, and she brings that experience to clients working to change patterns. Michele believes therapy is a cooperative process. She works with people to set clear goals and to build skills for coping and communication.
Sessions focus on what the person wants to change and on practical steps to get there. People who reach out can expect a calm, steady presence and an emphasis on realistic tools. Michele adapts her pace to match each person's readiness for change and supports them through the challenges that come with recovery and growth.
Evidence-based techniques and online therapy options
Many of Michele’s methods focus on skills you can practice between sessions. One approach emphasizes identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing them against real-life evidence, which can help reduce anxiety and low mood. Another common strategy focuses on building specific coping and behavioral skills - for example routines for sleep and strategies to manage cravings or strong emotions. These techniques are practical and aimed at everyday problems like stress, relationship tension, and mood changes.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Michele collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and comfort level. Together they set clear, achievable goals and try techniques for a time to see what helps most, then adjust as needed.
Online therapy with Michele offers several practical benefits. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when a longer session is helpful. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or for brief check-ins. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to fit support into a busy day and to follow up between meetings. These options give flexibility to keep therapy consistent around life demands.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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