Michele Koenes
Practical, steady support for stressful times
- Credentials
- LMSW, LCSW
- Experience
- 11 years
- Licensed in
- Michigan, California, New Hampshire
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Michele
Michele Koenes is a licensed social worker who focuses on helping people tackle stress, anxiety, depression, parenting concerns, and life transitions. She uses clear, practical conversation to help people manage daily struggles and make small changes that add up. Michele aims to listen first and move at a pace that feels comfortable to each person.
She brings 11 years of professional experience across clinical settings. That background includes work in both inpatient and outpatient care, where she supported adults and older adults with a range of mental health issues.
Background and approach
Prior careers as a litigation attorney and as a teacher contribute to her ability to explain things plainly and to stay organized during difficult conversations. Michele blends several therapy methods to suit each person. She draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people live with difficult thoughts while focusing on meaningful values.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps with changing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns. She also uses Client-Centered and Attachment-Based approaches when building trust and understanding how relationships shape feelings. Her style is collaborative and responsive.
Michele prioritizes empathy and lets people set the pace for sessions. She creates space for all parts of a person, including ones that feel hard to share. Located in Michigan, Michele holds the Licensed Master Social Worker credential and the Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential.
She works with common concerns such as grief, trauma, self-esteem, ADHD, substance issues, sleep and eating problems, caregiving stress, and compassion fatigue. She aims to help people find practical steps forward and steadier ground over time.
How therapy approaches fit into online sessions
Michele commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people accept difficult thoughts and feelings and take action that aligns with their values, which can help with anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at patterns of thinking and behavior and teaches practical skills to change reactions and habits, which is useful for anxiety, mood concerns, and sleep or eating problems.Deciding which approach to use is a collaborative process. Michele listens to each person's goals and preferences and then suggests methods that match those needs. Together the therapist and client check in regularly to see what is helping and adjust the plan as needed.
Online sessions make this work flexible. Video and phone sessions allow for face-to-face conversation when that feels helpful, while live chat and text messaging can provide shorter check-ins, reminders, or support between longer meetings. These options can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and to keep momentum when life gets hectic.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Looks at how early bonds shaped what you expect from closeness, and how that plays out now with a partner, a parent, or your own children.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 11 years
- Licensed
- Michigan, California, New Hampshire
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Michele
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point