About Michelle
Michelle Zaragoza is a licensed clinical social worker in California who helps adults facing stress, anxiety, relationship strain, and career uncertainty. She brings nine years of practice to sessions and aims to make therapy clear and useful. Michelle works with people navigating life changes and mood concerns and she offers practical tools to manage day-to-day pressure.
Her style is collaborative and down-to-earth. Sessions focus on what matters to the client and on building skills that can be used between meetings.
Background and approach
She gives direct, thoughtful feedback and helps clients set short-term and long-term goals. Michelle uses a mix of somatic approaches and mindfulness to help people notice how their bodies hold stress. She also employs Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and client-centered techniques to support values-based change and self-compassion.
For clients with trauma memories, she includes eye movement desensitization and reprocessing when appropriate. Therapy may include breathing and body-based exercises, guided reflection, and brief solution-focused steps to address immediate concerns. The pace is tailored to each person’s comfort and goals.
Michelle encourages homework that fits daily life so progress can continue outside sessions. She works in English and practices as an LCSW, license number CA LCSW 100578. Sessions are offered through video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging.
To begin, a short matching questionnaire and scheduling step help connect clients to her practice.
How Michelle blends somatic and talk-based approaches online
Online sessions can include somatic work that helps people notice physical sensations tied to stress. That might mean brief grounding exercises, tracking breath and tension, or gentle movement cues that help clients feel more present and calm. Somatic techniques aim to connect body awareness with emotional shifts and are useful for stress, anxiety, and coping with change.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is also part of her online practice. It focuses on clarifying personal values and taking small, committed actions toward those values while learning to live with difficult thoughts. Client-centered methods create a respectful, nonjudgmental space where the person’s priorities guide the work.
Finding the right mix of approaches is a collaborative process. Michelle will talk with each client about goals, preferences, and what feels helpful, then adjust methods over time. Together they decide whether more somatic practices, mindfulness, or values-based work fits best.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to use tools between sessions. The variety of formats supports different needs, whether someone prefers face-to-face conversation by video or shorter check-ins by message.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Career difficulties
Also works with
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English