About Michelle
Michelle Fennessy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Florida with 20 years of practice. She earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in psychology from Mount Holyoke College. She welcomes people who are nervous about starting therapy and recognizes how hard that first step can feel.
She focuses on anxiety, depression, trauma, and heartbreak. She also helps people dealing with addictions and self-destructive habits like binge-eating or problematic drinking.
Background and approach
Michelle has personal and clinical experience with expatriate life and understands its unique stresses. Her style blends practical tools with attention to strengths. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to look at thoughts and behaviors and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify their values.
Mindfulness practices and solution-focused steps are part of sessions when a client wants concrete, short-term progress. Michelle believes small changes in thinking can change how people feel and act. She helps clients find thoughts that feel better and build routines that support those changes.
Sessions are goal oriented, with an emphasis on finding what works for each person. People who come to her often want relief from ongoing worry, help with relationships, or support during big life changes. Michelle talks plainly, listens closely, and works collaboratively to set achievable steps toward feeling better.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and it supports choosing actions that match personal values. It can be useful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors through practical exercises and homework, which often helps with worry, depression, and habit change.Deciding which approach to use is a shared process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has helped or not helped in the past. Together they will try strategies, adjust the plan, and focus on steps that feel doable and meaningful for the client.
Online therapy offers flexibility in how sessions happen. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues matter. Phone sessions work when bandwidth or camera use is a problem. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for quick check-ins, shorter coaching-style exchanges, or when someone needs to stay off camera. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and keep momentum between sessions.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Michelle commonly work with?
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
What is her clinical background and experience?
Where is she located and licensed?
Which languages and international clients are supported?
What session formats does she offer online?
How are sessions billed and what is the cost?
How do I begin working with her?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.