PuttingFamilyFirst

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MB Portrait of Michelle Bonner
Online therapist

Michelle Bonner

Helping families manage stress and parenting challenges

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Credentials
LMFT
Experience
17 years
Licensed in
California
Languages
English
Format
Online sessions

About Michelle

Michelle Bonner is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 17 years of clinical experience in California. She helps families and parents manage stress, anxiety, parenting challenges, and self-esteem concerns. She also supports people coping with life changes and family conflict.

Her tone is direct and respectful, and she aims to make the first steps easier for worried parents. Michelle uses practical, hands-on talk therapy. She listens first and tailors the plan to each family's needs.

Background and approach

Sessions focus on real situations at home, clearer communication, and small changes that add up. She draws on approaches that help with mood, trauma, and daily coping. Her background includes long-term work with children, teens, and adults facing family stress, blended family issues, adoption and foster care questions, and caregiver strain.

She has supported those dealing with post-traumatic stress, domestic violence, and prejudice or discrimination. Her experience also covers disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and other mood concerns. Therapy sessions blend client-centered listening with techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and trauma-focused work.

Mindfulness and solution-focused methods are used to build coping skills and set achievable goals. Michelle adapts language and pace to each family's comfort level. She offers sessions in English and holds California license CA LMFT 87977.

Her approach aims to be practical, kind, and focused on what will help family life feel more manageable. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule sessions that fit their needs.

Therapeutic approaches and online care for families

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to each family’s needs. It creates space for parents and children to speak openly while the therapist reflects and helps clarify what matters most. This approach is useful when families want a steady, respectful starting point for change.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It teaches concrete skills to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and change unhelpful patterns. CBT can be especially helpful for parenting stress and mood challenges where behavioral steps make a difference.

Trauma-focused therapy concentrates on safe ways to process traumatic events and reduce their impact on daily life. It combines careful support with techniques to build coping and reduce reactivity, useful for families affected by past abuse or violence.

Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the family about goals, preferences, and what has worked or not worked before. Together they choose or adapt methods so sessions feel useful and aligned with the family’s priorities.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet: video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit sessions around work, school, and caregiving. They also let parents check in between appointments and use techniques in real time during family moments.

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.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.

Mindfulness Therapy

Attention training: noticing thoughts and physical feelings as they arrive without being carried off by them. Much of it is practice you do yourself, so guidance over video or audio works much as it would in person.

Frequently asked questions

What concerns does she commonly address?
She works with stress, anxiety, parenting struggles, family conflict, self-esteem, and coping with life changes. Additional areas include adoption and foster care, blended family issues, caregiver stress, mood disorders, and trauma-related concerns.
What is her general therapy style?
Her style is warm and direct. She listens first, then uses practical strategies tailored to each family’s situation and goals.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has 17 years of professional experience working with children, adolescents, and adults on family and parenting challenges as well as trauma and mood issues.
What credentials and location apply to her practice?
She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California with CA LMFT 87977 and practices from that state.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can international clients work with her?
She does not accept international clients.
What session formats are available?
Sessions can be held via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different family schedules.
How do I get started and what does it cost?
To begin, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a time. Cost varies with location and therapist availability and uses a subscription that can be canceled at any time.

Specialties and expertise

Top specialties

Also works with

Therapeutic approaches

Experience
17 years
Licensed
California
Languages
English

Next step

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