Michelle Goodwater

Michelle Goodwater is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in Washington with seven years of clinical experience. She offers a warm, interactive approach and aims to help people facing stress, anxiety, grief, depression, anger, and relationship concerns. Michelle avoids stigmatizing labels and treats people with respect and compassion.

Her work blends practical strategies with thoughtful listening. She uses methods from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, and EMDR to shape sessions. That means sessions can include skills practice, values clarification, emotion regulation tools, and trauma-focused interventions when needed.

Michelle has helped people who have experienced trauma, including combat-related and sexual trauma, childhood abuse, and other forms of emotional and physical harm. She also supports people dealing with sleep disruption, career challenges, grief, bipolar symptoms, and compassion fatigue. Her additional focus areas include attachment and family of origin issues, codependency, control and communication problems, and feelings of emptiness or shame.

In sessions she adapts the pace and plan to each person. Conversations and exercises are selected based on what a person needs in the moment and what they want to accomplish. Michelle frames therapy as a collaborative effort where goals are realistic and measurable.

To begin, she asks people to share where they are struggling and what they hope to change. From there she helps build practical steps and coping skills to navigate life changes and improve daily functioning.

How therapeutic approaches shape online work

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small actions toward those values. It often involves exercises to notice thoughts without getting stuck and building flexible behaviors that match personal goals. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms like anxiety or sleep problems. Sessions typically include practical skills and homework to try between meetings.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with clients to decide which methods fit their needs and goals. That decision can shift over time as progress is made or new issues come up, and Michelle will adjust the plan together with the client.

The biography does not list specific online session formats, so confirm available options before booking. In general, online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy day, shorten travel time, or allow for brief check-ins when time is limited. It can also support steady work on skills and continuity after a crisis or during major life changes. Clients should check current session offerings to find the arrangement that best fits their routine and technology.