About Michael
Michael Valdes is a licensed clinical social worker with 17 years of experience helping people through hard times. He focuses on practical, down-to-earth support for issues like anxiety, depression, addiction, and relationship pain. Michael speaks plainly and aims to make therapy feel manageable for someone balancing busy life demands.
He uses a mix of approaches that fit the person in front of him rather than a one-size-fits-all plan. Sessions often include straightforward skills to manage stress, ways to notice and change unhelpful thoughts, and exercises to build values-based action.
How Michael works
He also helps people process grief, trauma, and complicated relationship hurts in a step-by-step way. Michael has worked in Tennessee for many years and brings experience with concerns such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, career strain, and compassion fatigue. He also supports people dealing with intimacy-related issues, kink and alternative sex culture, and the fallout of infidelity or separation.
His work includes addressing abandonment, attachment wounds, guilt and shame, and challenges tied to cancer or serious illness. In sessions he blends acceptance-oriented methods with client-centered care and practical cognitive tools. That can mean learning mindfulness exercises, practicing distress-tolerance skills, or setting small goals that match someone's values.
He aims to help people feel more steady and get back to the life they want. People come for short-term coaching, help coping with life changes, or longer work on deep patterns. Michael uses language that people can understand and focuses on clear next steps at each visit.
Michael lists 11 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.
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 17 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Tennessee |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Online approaches that match your needs
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, often called ACT, focuses on helping people live in line with their values while accepting difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help with anxiety, depression, and motivation by steering choices toward what matters most. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person's experience and aims to create a respectful space where people feel heard and can explore goals at their own pace.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Michael will discuss these methods with each person and together they decide what fits the needs, goals, and personal preferences. The plan can shift over time as progress is made or new issues come up, and the therapist supports that ongoing adjustment.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let people work face-to-face from wherever they are, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and text-based messaging or live chat work well for quick check-ins or when scheduling is tight. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, family, or travel commitments.
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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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