About Michele
Michele McShea is a licensed clinical social worker with 19 years of experience helping people face hard moments in life. She practices as an LCSW, and brings steady, practical support to conversations about stress, anxiety, depression, relationships, and identity concerns. Michele writes and speaks plainly and focuses on what will help a person feel better in daily life.
Her approach blends short-term problem solving with deeper talk about patterns that repeat over time.
Background and approach
Michele uses tools from cognitive behavioral work to change unhelpful thoughts and actions. She also draws on psychodynamic ideas to look at where difficult feelings began and how they show up now. Clients often come for help with grief, trauma and abuse, addictions, intimacy issues, or struggles with self-esteem and body image.
Michele also works with people navigating HIV/AIDS, infidelity, codependency, and the fallout of divorce or separation. She addresses family of origin issues and feelings of abandonment or emptiness in clear, straightforward ways. Michele tailors sessions to each person's needs.
Some sessions focus on immediate coping skills. Others create space for reflection and personal meaning. She matches pace and tools to what the person wants to achieve.
Sessions are offered in English and can include a mix of conversation and practical homework. Michele aims to help people build confidence, improve relationships, and regain a sense of agency as they move forward.
How Michele's Approaches Work Online
CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviors that keep problems going. It is useful for anxiety, depression, stress, and relationship patterns. Existential therapy looks at meaning, choice, and the feelings that come from life transitions; it helps people confronting big questions or major changes.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Michele will talk with each person about their goals and preferences. Together they decide whether to focus on skill-building, exploring deeper patterns, or a mix of both, and she adjusts methods as progress is made.
Online formats available include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or a non-visual check-in is preferred. Chat and text messaging can support shorter check-ins, ongoing reflection between sessions, or times when typing feels easier than speaking. These options offer flexibility to fit therapy into busy schedules and changing routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Body image
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 19 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English