About Michael
Michael Smith is a licensed mental health counselor with 38 years of clinical experience. He helps people facing anxiety, depression, stress, and phobias, and supports those coping with mood or behavior concerns. He works with individuals who are dealing with addiction, grief, relationship strain, or life changes.
He uses straightforward, practical conversations to identify what's getting in the way. Sessions focus on skills people can use between appointments. He draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness practices to reduce symptoms and improve daily routines.
Background and approach
Michael also brings a client-centered stance that emphasizes listening and tailoring the work to each person. That means goals are set together and adjusted as progress is made. He incorporates existential therapy when questions about meaning, purpose, or identity come up.
His background includes long-term work in New York with people who have mood disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and substance-related concerns. Michael has experience helping clients manage sleep, eating, anger, attention differences, and compulsive behaviors. Sessions are conducted in English and offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging.
He provides practical tools for coping, improving routines, and facing fears step by step. People find the work most helpful when they want clear strategies and steady support.
How these approaches work online
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening, empathy, and building a therapeutic relationship. The therapist follows the client's lead, helps reflect what matters most, and supports people in finding their own answers to life questions.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It uses simple exercises and practical homework to change unhelpful thinking patterns and reduce anxiety, panic, or phobic avoidance.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with clients about goals and preferences and then choose or combine methods that fit. That collaborative process helps tailor sessions to each person's needs and pace.
Online formats offer flexibility for busy schedules and different comfort levels. Video calls let people meet face to face when a longer session or visual cues are helpful. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to use video. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for shorter check-ins, quick skill practice, or when typing feels more comfortable than speaking.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Career difficulties
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 38 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English
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