Michelle Elijah, LSW Therapist
It takes a great deal of courage and self-compassion to seek out therapy, and Michelle is incredibly proud of those who are taking this first step. She believes that a successful therapeutic relationship begins with establishing a warm, supportive, and safe space for her clients to connect on a human level in order to feel genuinely seen and heard. Michelle uses a holistic and strengths-based approach that encourages her clients to be active participants in their own growth and healing. She helps empower her clients to enhance their relationships with themselves in order to live a life that feels full and authentic.
Michelle works with young adults, teens and adolescents with issues related to anxiety & panic attacks, life transitions, relationships, overwhelm & stress, and self-esteem. Through the use of evidence-based treatment modalities and mindfulness techniques, Michelle helps clients navigate, process, and make meaningful change when dealing with life’s difficult moments.
Prior to completing her Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Michelle worked as a graphic designer for many years. She is also a fiber and textile artist and deeply understands the cathartic and grounding quality that creative expression can foster. She enjoys working to nurture this in her clients as an alternative way to communicate or heal from trauma. She has been practicing breathwork and yoga for more than a decade, and believes that meditation and movement therapy can also be an effective way to reconnect to the physical body and work through emotional pain that gets stored in the body over time.
In her spare time, Michelle can be found weaving on her loom, searching for treasures at thrift stores, listening to music from her husband’s massive record collection, consuming too many true-crime podcasts, going for aimless walks, and lounging with her goofy cats, Earl Grey and Pepper.