About Michelle
Michelle Wincell OLeary is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) based in Minnesota. She brings 28 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar symptoms, and career or parenting challenges. Michelle also supports people facing grief, compassion fatigue, anger, relationship struggles, and questions about life purpose and self-esteem.
She uses a gentle, person-centered style that focuses on the individual in front of her. Sessions emphasize listening, practical coping tools, and building motivation for change.
How Michelle works
Michelle teaches simple mindfulness and self-care practices that can be used between appointments. Her approach blends client-centered work with solution-focused strategies and elements of psychodynamic thinking. That means she pays attention to current problems while also noticing patterns from the past that affect today.
Motivational interviewing is used to help people find their own reasons to change and to set realistic goals. Michelle describes her role as a guide and coach. She creates an open, nonjudgmental space for people to speak honestly about emotions like shame, guilt, abandonment, or isolation.
Communication problems, forgiveness, and workplace issues are commonly addressed with practical steps and reflection. Because she lives and practices in Minnesota, Michelle is familiar with local community stressors and their impact. She works with people on building resilience, adaptability, and compassion.
Her focus is on straightforward support and usable strategies so people can feel more capable in daily life.
Michelle lists 6 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
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Relationship issues
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LICSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 28 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Minnesota |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches and online care that fit your life
Client-centered therapy focuses on the person rather than the problem. The therapist listens deeply, reflects what is said, and helps people feel understood so they can make their own choices. Mindfulness therapy teaches simple awareness and breathing practices that reduce reactivity and help with anxiety, stress, and mood regulation. Motivational interviewing helps people clarify their values and boost motivation to make changes, which is useful for career shifts, habits, and goal-setting.Choosing the right approach is part of the process. Michelle works collaboratively to identify which methods make sense for each person. Together they set goals, try strategies, and adjust the plan based on what helps most and what feels comfortable.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls let people work face-to-face without travel, phone sessions can fit a break in the day, live chat works for brief check-ins, and text-based messaging supports ongoing, short exchanges. These options make it easier to keep momentum between sessions and to choose the format that fits daily life.
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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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