Michelle Castellani

Michelle Castellani is a licensed clinical social worker with a Master of Social Work and 12 years of clinical experience. She has worked largely in healthcare settings and private practice, helping people manage strong emotions and life changes. She often supports people dealing with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating concerns, and struggles with anger and relationships.

Her background includes crisis intervention work tied to medical settings, where she learned practical coping skills for sudden change and loss. That experience informed her approach in private practice, which she has run since 2007. Many people she sees come with panic, social anxiety, phobias, grief, or difficulties around intimacy and trust.

Michelle uses a mix of plain, teachable tools rather than jargon. She draws on mindfulness practices learned through a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course to teach basic meditation and grounding techniques. She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which helps people notice how thoughts influence feelings and actions.

A strengths-based perspective is part of her work. She helps people identify existing skills and then apply them to current problems. Sessions focus on listening first, clarifying the problem, and then choosing practical steps to try between meetings.

She emphasizes collaboration and readiness for change. Michelle aims to meet people where they are and guide them through gradual adjustments. This often means pacing work so someone feels steady while trying new ways of coping.

How therapeutic approaches shape online care

Michelle often uses mindfulness practices and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her work. Mindfulness involves simple breathing and awareness exercises that help reduce reactivity and calm the body, which can aid with stress, anxiety, and anger. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts, testing them, and trying different behaviors to change how someone feels and acts.

She also brings a strengths-based lens that helps people identify skills they already have and put those skills to use on current problems. Choosing the right mix of methods is a collaborative process. The therapist will listen, discuss goals, and then try approaches that match the person's needs and preferences.

Confirm the specific session options before booking, as formats are not listed here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy day, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when a full visit isn't needed. It can also make it simpler to practice mindfulness or homework between meetings. The goal is to make therapeutic work realistic and usable in daily life rather than a separate burden.