About Michael
Michael Elwan is an Accredited Social Worker (AASW) with 15 years of clinical experience in Australia. He focuses on adults and couples who feel worn down, stuck, or quietly overwhelmed rather than broken. Michael aims to create a calm space where people can slow down and be heard without judgement.
Many clients come with long-running stress, anxiety, grief or relationship strain that is not always visible. Michael works with those carrying responsibility, identity questions, burnout or the weight of past trauma.
Background and approach
Sessions are practical and paced to help people feel steadier over time. His approach is trauma-informed and culturally responsive. He draws on acceptance and commitment ideas, attachment-aware ways of working, emotionally focused methods and cognitive-behavioural tools.
Conversations look at the patterns that keep problems alive and the small changes that can lessen their hold. Michael’s perspective is shaped by both professional and lived experience. He grew up as a young carer and has experienced profound grief in his life.
Those experiences influence how he sits with clients and how he understands long-term strain and loss. He holds membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers and the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, and is completing a PhD in mental health. Outside work he is a husband and father of two, which informs his understanding of everyday relationships and responsibility.
Michael offers a thoughtful, steady style that aims for clarity and dignity. He welcomes people who want practical support to change patterns, manage symptoms and build more grounded ways of relating to themselves and others.
How Michael’s approaches work online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people clarify what matters to them and take small committed actions in that direction. It is useful for anxiety, depression and when people feel stuck. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts and behaviours that keep problems going and teaches practical skills to shift them. This approach helps with anxiety, mood difficulties and coping with life changes.Finding the right approach is collaborative. Michael will listen to your goals and try different methods to see what fits. He explains the ideas plainly and checks in to adjust the plan so it matches your needs and preferences.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video is close to an in-person conversation and suits deeper work. Phone sessions need less bandwidth and can fit into a break at work. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, grounding exercises or when typed thoughts are easier to organise.
These formats make therapy more flexible and accessible for people juggling work, family or other responsibilities. Michael uses the same therapeutic principles online as he would face to face, focusing on steady pacing, emotional clarity and practical steps you can use between sessions.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Michael help with?
What is his therapeutic style like?
How much experience does he have?
What credentials and location are listed?
Which languages are available for sessions?
What session formats are offered?
How do fees and payment work?
How do I begin therapy with Michael?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English, Arabic
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.