Meet Michelle Petersen, LPCC
she/her/hers
My Style of Therapy
I am an Emotionally Focused Therapist, which means I focus on how our emotions and past experiences shape the way we talk to ourselves and act in our relationships. Some people have a harsh inner critic or are harsh to their partner or loved ones. Other people are people pleasing, sacrificing their own needs for the sake of keeping others comfortable. Whatever your pattern of behavior is, I can help you understand why you do what you do, what it protects you from and how to change it to promote more closeness, belonging, and self-love.
Supporting Couples and Polyamorous Relationships
It’s painful to feel disconnected from the person or people you want to be closest to. It’s even more painful to feel like you don’t know how to get that closeness back. I help couples see and change what keeps them at odds with one another.
We do this by discussing the hard topics during our sessions. I pause us when things are about to take a turn: when that first verbal jab gets thrown or when you first start to get defensive. We pause there so we can better understand why that’s happening and help you more effectively communicate. As a result, my couples report having more awareness of what they each do that escalates conflicts, catching themselves before things escalate at home, and replacing those ineffective strategies with strategies that make them feel more connected and understood.
But we don’t stop there. My work with couples isn’t just about ceasing those painful arguments. It’s about helping your relationship be stronger, closer, and more loving than you’ve ever been before.
My specialties with couples:
- Interrupting patterns of recurring arguments – those “here we go again” fights
- Rekindling or reinvigorating your sex life
- Navigating cultural differences including interabled, interfaith, and interracial relationships
- Navigating consensual non-monogamy, polyamory
- Repairing hurt from secrets, lies, or infidelity
- Premarital counseling
- Conscious uncoupling or navigating divorce
Supporting Adult Individuals
My foremost priority in my work is to help my clients feel understood and no longer alone. We do that by feeling together: crying, being mad, grieving and feeling joy and relief together. Oftentimes this involves noticing, feeling and expressing what wasn’t safe or encouraged to feel as a child or in previous relationships. Together, we can learn more about what made you who you are and what you learned is okay or not okay to feel or be. We can then rewrite those lessons so you can feel freer.
My specialties with individuals:
- LGBTQIA+ people navigating coming out or internalized shame
- Replacing self-criticism with self-compassion
- Highly sensitive people
- Healing from an abusive relationship
- Healing childhood trauma
- Understanding how childhood trauma affects present day relationships
- Managing suicidal thoughts and self-harm, and reigniting your desire to live
- Understanding and managing urges to drink, smoke, or use other substances
- Strengthening your relationship with sex, sexuality, and pleasure
Supporting Teenagers
I help teens understand their emotions and stressors on a new level. We work to shift from thinking “something about me is wrong or bad” to “I’m doing my best to work through something hard.” I first focus on building trust and connection with my teen clients so they can feel comfortable being their authentic self with me. We then explore what makes it hard or risky to be that authentic self outside of our counseling sessions. I fold in art therapy, building self-advocacy skills, role playing communication and social skills, and more depending on the needs of each individual teen.
My specialties with teens:
- LGBTQIA+ teens
- Navigating bullying, isolation, or a lack of social connection
- Navigating life changes like gender transition, divorce, or a new school
- Replacing harmful coping strategies
Credentials and Background:
- Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate (LPCC)
- Masters Degree in Counseling from Northwestern University
- Completed Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Core Skills training
- Completed Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) training
A Bit More About Michelle Petersen
I am a thoughtful, curious person who loves both a belly laugh and a good cry. I feel happiest while enjoying a late night conversation over a home-cooked meal with loved ones, but I feel most grounded while on a solo day hike in the mountains. I strive for balance in my life, making space for both productivity and rest, aloneness and connection, and newness and comfort.
I previously worked in social work and am an active anti-racism and anti-poverty community organizer. That background informs my work with clients on systemic barriers to wellness and the roles of community and advocacy in personal healing.
I received my BA from Brown University and my MA in Counseling from Northwestern University. I am a trained Emotionally Focused Therapist (EFT) who believes our values are important to the work we do in counseling.
My work is influenced by my own feminism, queerness, and anti-racism, but I encourage clients to define and pursue their own values, whether they are different from or similar to mine.