No one can do their healing work alone.
Working with me means I am on your team.
When people suffer from feelings related to grief or loss, from unsatisfying relationships in the past or present, or from wishing to have more joy in our lives--therapy can be a powerful step toward healing and relief. Having a safe place and a compassionate person with whom to share our grief, our critical or frightening thoughts, and our longings can help enormously. I help people move from anxiety, trauma, depression and problems with relationships to a place of increased trust, safety, and satisfaction.
Therapy is a way to deepen understanding and self-acceptance. I work in a relational, supportive, and collaborative way helping people explore the feelings and patterns in their past and present experience, the images and metaphors that arise in waking or sleeping using a variety of methods acquired from my training in psychodynamic, humanistic, and existential theories.
I collaborate with adults, couples, and adolescents who want to join forces to feel greater energy and joy for living, to improve their relationships, and to deal with/exploring and tending to difficult feelings. I bring extensive knowledge of family issues including relationship/communication, postpartum issues, parenting, adolescent challenges, grief and loss, midlife challenges, caring for aging parents.
Bio
Michelle is a licensed therapist and accomplished teacher of gestalt and meditation who has trained and supervised licensed therapists and associates in the United States and internationally. She has served on the core faculty at the Pacific Gestalt Institute for over a decade and is a contributing author to the academic anthology, The Relational Heart of Gestalt Therapy (Routledge 2022).
Michelle has developed techniques that integrate gestalt theory and somatic practices with Buddhist psychology and mindfulness for a mind-body-spirit approach to therapy. She has taught Mindful Self-Compassion programs privately and with InsightLA Meditation. She is president emeritus of the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles (GTILA), where she also served on the executive board for eight years.
CV
Current Work
2023—present: Vice President of Professional Development/Co-Chair of Faculty at Therapist Development Center
2023—present: Run multiple weekly online meditation/inquiry groups at Lotus Lab
2014—2024: Provide supervision for AMFT interns, and provide consultation for licensed therapists
2012—present: Core Faculty of Pacific Gestalt Institute
2005—present: Private Psychotherapy Practice in Los Angeles, California.
Education
2012 Certified as Relational Gestalt Therapist at the Pacific Gestalt Institute by founders Lynne Jacobs and Gary Yontef
2001 Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology, Emphasis in Depth Psychology. Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA
1987-1989 Studied Education at Cal State L.A.
1984 Studied foreign languages in Barcelona, Spain and Florence, Italy.
1984 B.A. in English Literature, College of Creative Studies, U C Santa Barbara.
Teaching Experience
2023—present: Co-Lead classes in Clinical Supervision and suicide Assessment and Treatment at Therapist Development Center
2023—present: Volunteer meditation teacher for Open Heart Project
2012—present: Core Faculty of Pacific Gestalt Institute Teach in the year-long Weekend Program, and teach at the annual 9-day Residential Retreat.
2005 - 2014 Human Development Teacher, Sequoyah School, Pasadena Provided puberty, relationship, stress reduction, body image, substance abuse etc. education to students in 4th through 8th grades
2005 - 2014 Community Liaison Sequoyah School, Pasadena Provided support to teachers and parents regarding mental health and developmental issues of children and adolescents. Participated in IEPs. Gave workshops on topics such as Gender Bias in the Classroom, The Use of Sarcasm and Its Effects, and more for staff. Provided psycho-educational support to parents. Taught parent reading and support groups each semester.
2003 - 2004 Psychotherapy Internship at Cedars Sinai Medical Center Cheerful Helpers Therapeutic School
2000 Co-facilitated a yearlong men’s anger management training group (with Dr. Richard Greene)
1996 LA Commission on Assaults Against Women volunteer Taught relationship violence prevention classes to teens in LAUSD high schools for LACAAW (now called Peace over Violence)
Publications
In The Relational Heart of Gestalt Therapy: Contemporary Perspectives, published by Routledge/CRC Press (2022) Contributed Chapter 9, When the World Changes in an Instant: Exploring “Cracks in the Continuity of Experience”
Presentations (partial list)
February 25 - March 5, 2025. Pacific Gestalt Institute, Residential Training, Cuernavaca, Mexico. Core Faculty and Lecturer “Therapy and the Edge of Life: a new Gestalt Approach to Suicide Assessment and Treatment”
February 28 - March 8, 2024. Pacific Gestalt Institute, Residential Training, Cuernavaca, Mexico. Core Faculty and Lecturer “The Fertile Void and other Scary Places”
December 17, 2023. BodyKnowing: Exploring Sensory Language for GTILA
February 23 - March 3, 2023. Pacific Gestalt Institute, Residential Training, Palm Desert, California. Core Faculty and Lecturer “Desire, Dread, Beauty, Pain”
Fall 2022. Being with What is: Living Gestalt’s Paradoxical Theory of Change, 9 hours over 3 sessions
January 21, 2021. Southern California Counseling Center 2-hour training for new counselors on “Working with Anxiety”
Fall 2022 Being With What is: Living Gestalt’s Paradoxical Theory of Change, 9 hours over 3 sessions
June 11, 2020. Women in Animation virtual workshop presenter: “Emotional Resilience” (with Christine Campbell, LMFT)
May 14, 2020. Women in Animation workshop presenter: “Anxiety and Grief “(with Christine Campbell, LMFT)
April 15, 2020. Southern California Counseling Center 2-hour training for new counselors on “Working with Stuckness and Self-Criticism”
March 16-24, 2019. Pacific Gestalt Institute, Residential Training, Ojai, CA. Core Faculty and Lecturer, “Minding the Crack: Another Look at Panic”
August 14-19, 2018. The Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, 14th Biennial International Conference, Toronto, Canada, Workshop Presenter, “Linking Addiction and Shame: An Experiential Exploration” (with Armin Baier, LCSW.)
March 16-24, 2018. Pacific Gestalt Institute, Residential Training, Big Bear , California. Core Faculty and Lecturer. “Sense of Self vs Real Self—An Exploration of Gestalt and Buddhist Ideas”
August 26-27, 2017. Centro Gestáltico de Peru, Lima, Peru, Guest lecturer. “Working with Anxiety and Somatic Complaints”
December 18-19, 2017. Centro Gestáltico de Peru, Lima, Peru, Guest lecturer. “Mindfulness and Relational Gestalt”
September 22-25, 2016. The Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy,13th Biennial International Conference, Taormina, Italy, Workshop Presenter. “Linking Addiction and Shame: An Experiential Exploration” (with Armin Baier, LCSW)
April 24, 2016. Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles, 2015-2016 Salon Series, Los Angeles, CA Speaker (with Armin Baier, LCSW), “Addiction and Shame”
October 8, 2015. The Discovery Academy & Serene Connections, Inc, Continuing Education Event, Van Nuys, CA. Speaker (with Armin Baier, LCSW), “Breaking the Cycle of Trauma and Addiction”
June 11-14, 2015, Gestalt Centar IGW Zagreb, Croatia. Workshop Presenter. “Shame and Belonging”
June 11, 2014. Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles, 2013-2014 Salon Series, Los Angeles, CA Speaker (with Armin Baier, LCSW), “Gestalt Therapy and Mindfulness”
2014—2020—Los Angeles. Taught three 8-week/24 hour Mindful Self-Compassion classes per year to groups of adults and/or teens
Post Degree Training
2026 August 10-18 Reclaiming Basic Sanity with Susan Piver and MIchael Carroll at Drala Mountain Retreat Center, Red Feathers Lake, Colorado
2025 November 12-16 Going With Grace Death Doula Training with Alua Arthur and Team, Manhattan Beach, CA
2025 November 3-7 Relational Gestalt Practice with Dorothy Charles at Esalen Institute
2022 November 2-6 Open Heart Project 5-day study of The Heart Sutra
2022 March-May completed 25-hour Meditation Teacher Training with Open Heart Project
2018-2020 IPsiG International Training Program “Gestalt Therapy and Phenomenological Approach to Psychopathology and Clinical Practice” Completed four 5-day sessions in Torino, Italy
2018 Neuro Affective Touch completed Foundational Training 72-hour course with Aline LaPierre
2017 December 1-10 Rosen Method: The Berkeley Center 8-day/42 hour Intensive with Gloria Hessellund and Sarah Webb
2015 November 7-13 Monterey Bay Rosen Method Bodywork 8-day/42 hour Intensive with Jane Malek
2014—2016 Completed EMDR Parts 1-3.
2014 Completed 6-day Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) Teacher Training with Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer
2013 Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) attended 5-day workshop with Kristin Neff and Christian Germer
2012 - 2014 Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy 2-year training with Ruella Frank
2010 Emotionally Focused Therapy Core training
2009 Trauma Resiliency Model Training Certified in Levels 1 & 2
2007-2008 7-month class: Contemplative Relational Psychotherapy with Concetta Alfano and Marjorie Schuman
2007 Violet Oaklander 2-week intensive training in Gestalt Therapy Techniques for Children and Adolescents.
2007 Certified as a Gottman Educator for the Bringing Baby Home Program
2003 -2012—Completed 8 years study and practice in Relational Gestalt at the Pacific Gestalt Institute (PGI) 500+ hours
2003-2012—Attended a Relational Gestalt study and consultation group twice a month with Friedemann Schulz, MFT
