About Michelle
Michelle Garibaldi is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 23 years of experience based in California. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and intimacy concerns, addiction, grief, and trauma. Michelle also supports those coping with sleep problems, parenting strain, anger, low self-esteem, career questions, and major life changes.
Her approach is collaborative and straightforward. She asks about what someone wants to change, then works with them to set clear goals.
How Michelle works
Sessions tend to be warm and empathic while focusing on practical steps clients can use between meetings. Michelle mixes listening with active tools so people leave sessions with something to try. Clinically she draws on client-centered work to prioritize each person’s experience and on cognitive behavioral techniques to identify and shift unhelpful thoughts and habits.
She also uses mindfulness practices to help people calm and focus, and motivational interviewing to strengthen commitment to change. These methods are applied in ways that fit each person’s needs.
With two decades plus of practice, Michelle brings experience across a wide range of concerns including compassion fatigue, abandonment issues, attachment struggles, blended family challenges, divorce and separation, hospice and end-of-life counseling, isolation, midlife questions, and life purpose. She balances practical skill-building with attention to deeper personal meaning. Michelle offers sessions in English and works with people in California.
She uses varied formats so people can choose what fits their schedule and pace.
Michelle lists 7 ways of working on the entry:
What Michelle works with
The areas below are the ones Michelle selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 23 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that guide online sessions
Client-centered therapy focuses on each person’s perspective and priorities. The therapist listens deeply, reflects what she hears, and helps people find their own solutions. This approach is useful for emotional support, relationship concerns, and making sense of life changes.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It teaches practical skills to challenge unhelpful thoughts and build new habits. CBT is often used for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and coping with stress.
Mindfulness therapy offers simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and increase focus. These techniques help with anxiety, anger, and sleep issues by teaching ways to come back to the present moment.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Michelle will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals and preferences. She adapts techniques over time based on what is helping and what feels workable for the client.
Online therapy offers flexibility and practical options. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when a fuller interaction is preferred. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when an on-camera meeting is not needed. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for brief check-ins, day-to-day coaching, or when someone wants shorter, written interaction. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to continue work between sessions.
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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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