Michelle Varady, LCSW

Michelle Varady is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with ten years of direct practice in California. She focuses on helping people who feel overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, stress, addiction, grief, or big life changes. She speaks English and works with people across regions, including international clients.

Her style is straightforward and practical. Sessions emphasize clear skills and small steps. Michelle uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques alongside mindfulness and somatic work to help clients notice patterns and try new responses. She also draws on solution-focused ideas to set short-term goals.

Michelle has worked across a range of concerns, from sleep problems and panic attacks to mood and personality challenges. She supports people dealing with trauma and abuse, struggles with self-esteem, and those confronting impulsivity or substance issues. Her approach blends symptom relief with attention to the experiences that underlie repeated patterns.

In session she helps people build coping strategies they can use outside therapy. That can mean practicing breathing and body-awareness, testing unhelpful thoughts, or trying new problem-solving steps between meetings. Sessions aim to be practical and paced to the client’s needs.

Getting started involves a brief online matching process and scheduling. Michelle’s work centers on collaboration - setting achievable goals and checking progress as therapy continues.

How Michelle’s approaches work online

Michelle often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients identify unhelpful thoughts and change behavior. CBT sessions focus on small experiments and practical homework that can be done between meetings to reduce anxiety, manage mood, or address addictive urges.

She also integrates Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills and mindfulness practices. DBT skills include emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, while mindfulness work helps people notice sensations and thinking without immediate reaction. These tools are useful for strong emotions, panic, and impulsivity.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Michelle will talk with each person about goals, try techniques, and adjust the plan based on what helps. Clients and the therapist check progress together and make changes as needed.

Online therapy offers flexibility in format. Video calls allow face-to-face work and guided skill practice. Phone sessions can fit into a short break or require less bandwidth. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for quick check-ins, tracking mood, or getting brief coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to continue work consistently despite a busy schedule.