Be proud of yourself for already taking the first step.
Taking a hard look at our lives and the decisions we tend to make can feel scary and overwhelming. It can feel too hard to change. But, it can also be a tremendous relief. With Individual therapy, you can break old habits that no longer work and that have hindered your growth or happiness. We develop coping mechanisms that may have worked for a period in our lives, but that no longer serve us. Sometimes we all just need to reassess where we are and what we want in our lives. It can be a huge relief to get some help in letting go of what doesn’t work anymore and come up with new updated strategies and coping mechanisms that serve you.
Feeling safe and comfortable during this process is Michele Waldman’s promise to you. She will listen and support you while guiding you through these areas of concern or distress.
Her style of counseling has been described as caring, relaxed, and engaged. Individual therapy is not easy but it doesn’t have to be all about suffering. There is room for humor and perspective.
Michele works with males, females, and non-binary clients of all ages and ethnicities. She welcomes straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients. Specializing in substance abuse and addiction, anxiety, depression, sexual trauma, developmental trauma, relationship issues, career concerns, and food/body image issues.
“With time, commitment, and a skilled counselor to help, people have the inherent capacity to change their lives.”
DIFFICULTIES WITH
Self-Esteem
How do you feel about who you are? Healthy self-esteem is not something that happens overnight. It is something that is earned through honest self-refection, an understanding of why we do what we do, a commitment to living within your value system, and an ongoing practice of self-care. Many of our beliefs about ourselves are learned in childhood. Working with a skilled therapist can help to undercover ways of thinking about yourself and about life that hinder you. In therapy, we work together to understand your negative and positive beliefs, clarify your value system, and develop skills to raise your self-esteem.
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH
Alcohol, Food & Drugs
Whether you are plagued by food or body image, finding yourself questioning your use of alcohol, or struggling with drugs, therapy can help address where you are stuck. Self destructive behavior is a symptom of a much larger problem. We would work together to help you understand why you do what you do. At the same time, we would develop strategies to help you find peace.
FEELINGS OF
Loneliness
Are you lonely? Loneliness can cause painful, even harmful reactions in both our mental and physical health. In therapy, I would work with you in a safe and compassionate way to help you identify reasons why you may feel lonely and help uncover ways you can change your circumstances. Through understanding yourself better, you are able to make different choices in your life and change your patterns.
THE CHALLENGES OF
Age Transitions
Whether you are turning 30 or 75, it can be painful to accept life transitions. In therapy, we would work together to better understand how you feel about yourself and where you are in your life so that you are better equipped to face life transitions and make positive choices.
Many people are unconsciously driven by their fear of mortality. It limits the way they live their lives. It can be liberating to explore the meaning in your life, why you are here and what you want out of your life. We are all going to age…why not do it with grace and joy?
THE UNCERTAINTIES OF
Career Choices
It can be difficult making career decisions by ourselves. Before becoming a therapist at 40, I worked in both corporate America as well as international business for 15 years. In therapy, we would look at your options and help you develop a clear sense of what you want to do with your life.
