Michelle Durham
Compassionate, practical counseling for life challenges
- Credentials
- LPC
- Experience
- 19 years
- Licensed in
- District of Columbia
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Michelle
Michelle Durham is a licensed professional counselor who helps adults facing stress, anxiety, grief, addiction, and relationship concerns. She works with people dealing with trauma and abuse, compassion fatigue, career questions, and self-esteem struggles. Michelle speaks plainly and focuses on practical next steps.
Her style is warm and accepting, aimed at helping someone find steady ways forward. Michelle has 19 years of experience in community and nonprofit settings in Washington, DC.
Background and approach
Much of her work involved people coping with severe and persistent mental health challenges, substance use, homelessness, unemployment, and complex life transitions. She has supported people who were exiting foster care, survivors of domestic violence, and formerly incarcerated individuals. Her approach is strength-based and client-centered, with attention to cultural background and life context.
She draws on evidence-based techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and solution-focused strategies to address specific problems. Michelle also uses narrative ideas to help people reframe their stories and acceptance and commitment therapy to support values-based change. Michelle emphasizes self-care and practical plans that fit each person’s life.
She prefers to build treatment around the client’s goals and readiness rather than following a rigid path. This collaborative stance helps people try small, manageable steps and adjust as needed. Sessions can look conversational and grounded, with teachable tools, short exercises, and homework when helpful.
The overall aim is clearer thinking, fewer obstacles to daily functioning, and steady progress toward the goals the client sets.
How Michelle’s approaches translate to online work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on identifying personal values and taking small actions that line up with those values despite difficult thoughts or feelings. It can help when worry, avoidance, or painful memories get in the way of living the life someone wants.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at what someone thinks and does in specific situations and teaches simple tools to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, depression, stress, and problems with sleep or concentration.
Finding the best approach is part of the work together. Michelle will ask about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before, and then suggest strategies to try. The plan is adjusted over time so it fits the person and their life.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. These options let people fit sessions around school, work, caregiving, or medical needs and can make regular check-ins easier to keep. A mix of session types can be used so therapy stays practical and usable in everyday life.
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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Multicultural concerns
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 19 years
- Licensed
- District of Columbia
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Michelle
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point