About Michael
Michael Michnya is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in New Jersey with 39 years of experience. He focuses on helping people improve relationships, manage stress and anxiety, and work through addictions and life transitions. He often supports parents wanting more cooperation from their children and helps couples strengthen their partnerships.
Michael also helps people with career concerns, grief, intimacy, ADHD, and rebuilding confidence. He began his career in 1980 as a preschool teacher and moved into counseling while volunteering for child abuse prevention in 1981.
How Michael works
From 1982 to 1986 he worked at a long-term rehab for teenage substance abusers. After earning a master’s degree in counseling psychology, he served as primary counselor and coordinator for an adolescent alcohol program from 1986 to 1990.
From 1990 to 2014 he was a program manager at Family Service Association, where he trained and supervised over 30 in-home counselors and ran parenting education and juvenile diversion programs. Since then he has provided individual, group, and family counseling in a variety of clinical settings while building a independent practice.
Michael uses a mix of commonly used approaches, including Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, the Gottman Method, and Mindfulness Therapy. He emphasizes creativity, honesty, and practical work between sessions to help people make lasting changes. He looks for clients who are hopeful, willing to do the work, and ready to try new strategies.
His goal is to help people find solutions that fit their lives and steadily move toward the changes they want.
Michael lists 9 ways of working on the entry:
What Michael works with
The areas below are the ones Michael selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
Training and background
| Register | LPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 39 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | New Jersey |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches translate to online work
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on creating a warm, accepting connection where the client sets the pace and topics. Online sessions using this approach let clients lead conversations about relationships, parenting, or life direction while the therapist listens and reflects. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts influence feelings and behaviors and teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful patterns. In remote sessions CBT often includes tracking thoughts, practicing new behaviors between meetings, and reviewing progress together. Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people understand and change interaction patterns that cause distress in close relationships. Online EFT sessions can guide partners or individuals to notice emotion-driven cycles and learn new ways to connect and respond. Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist discusses goals, preferences, and what feels comfortable, then recommends methods to try. This collaborative process may combine elements from different approaches so therapy fits each person’s life and aims. Online formats offer practical benefits. Video calls approximate face-to-face conversation and allow visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or for brief check-ins. Live chat and text messaging work well for quick reflections, ongoing support, or people who prefer writing to speaking. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and keep momentum between appointments.Start online instead of waiting
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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