About Michelle
Michelle Castellani is a licensed clinical social worker who has worked in healthcare and independent practice for over a decade. She brings 12 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and related concerns. Her background includes hands-on crisis work and ongoing care in outpatient settings.
She learned many crisis intervention and adjustment skills while working with people facing new illnesses and sudden life changes. That experience shaped a practical style focused on clear coping strategies and step-by-step problem solving.
Background and approach
She blends short-term tools with longer-term skills building. Her practice commonly addresses anxiety disorders such as panic attacks, social anxiety, and phobias, along with mood disorders, eating concerns, addictions, trauma and abuse, and relationship and intimacy issues. She also helps with sleep problems, parenting stress, grief, anger, self-esteem, and career concerns.
Michelle uses mindfulness exercises, cognitive behavioral techniques, and a strengths-based perspective in sessions. Mindfulness and meditation are offered as coping tools when a person is open to them. Cognitive behavioral work looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect and what to change in small, doable steps.
She favors a collaborative approach: listening first, naming the problem, and then choosing strategies that fit a person’s life. Clients can expect practical assignments, skill practice, and regular review of progress as part of moving toward change.
Evidence-based approaches for online care
Michelle uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help people see how thoughts influence feelings and actions. This work often includes identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and practicing new ways of responding, which can reduce panic, worry, and depressive symptoms.She also offers mindfulness exercises and meditation practices learned through a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. These tools teach attention and breathing skills that can decrease stress reactivity and improve sleep and focus when practiced regularly.
In addition, she brings a strengths-based perspective that helps people notice and use their existing skills. That approach focuses on practical steps and building confidence by applying what already works in a person’s life.
Choosing the right mix of techniques is a collaborative process. The therapist will listen to goals, try methods in session, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients and the therapist work together to pick exercises and homework that fit daily routines and real-life constraints.
Online therapy formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for deeper conversation and skill demonstrations. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and messaging support quick check-ins, homework review, and ongoing reminders between sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent despite busy schedules.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Grief
Also listed
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- New Jersey
- Languages
- English
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