Michele Fitzgerald, LPCC

Michele Fitzgerald is a licensed professional clinical counselor with 25 years of experience. She began her career working with adolescents in substance abuse treatment and has practiced in places from Kodiak, Alaska to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Michele draws on decades of hands-on work in addiction, mental health, adoption counseling, and hospital and long-term care social work. She describes recovery as part of overall wellness and values strength that grows from hard times.

Michele listens carefully and helps people make sense of setbacks. She treats mistakes as moments to learn rather than proof of failure. In sessions she uses straightforward language and practical steps so people can try things between meetings. Her style is calm, patient, and grounded in real-world experience.

Her background includes work in substance abuse treatment, birth parent and adoption counseling, and social work in medical and long-term care settings. That varied history informs how she approaches challenges like addiction, grief, and chronic illness. Michele brings patience when people face big life changes.

She commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy, client-centered methods, dialectical behavior therapy, EMDR, and motivational interviewing to shape care. Michele matches tools to the concern and the person’s goals. Sessions focus on skills people can use right away to manage stress, emotion, sleep, or cravings.

Michele speaks English and practices from Minnesota. She is familiar with many issues including anxiety, trauma, depression, parenting stress, relationship and family-of-origin problems, ADHD, and eating or sleeping concerns. Her approach aims to help people move toward wellness with clear steps and steady support.

How Michele Integrates Evidence-Based Approaches Online

Michele often uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try practical behavior changes. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, sleep and coping with life transitions because it breaks problems into manageable steps.

She also uses client-centered therapy, which focuses on listening and following the person’s lead. That approach helps people feel heard and build goals that fit their values. Dialectical behavior therapy skills are used when emotion regulation, distress tolerance, or relationship patterns are a focus; DBT teaches concrete skills to manage intense feelings and improve communication.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Michele collaborates with each person to pick methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. She combines listening with concrete tools and adjusts the plan as progress is made.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video works well for full sessions and skills practice, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat offers a brief check-in, and messaging lets people reflect between meetings. These options help clients fit therapy into work, school, caregiving, or busy days while keeping care consistent and focused.