- Calm practical skills
- Family and parenting focus
- Adoption and foster care
About Michelle
Michelle Bonner is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in California with 17 years of clinical experience. She helps people manage stress and anxiety, navigate parenting and family challenges, and build self-esteem. Her work also includes support for adoption and foster care concerns and coping with major life changes.
Michelle uses plain, practical conversation to find what matters most to each person. Sessions are collaborative and shaped around clear goals. She focuses on real-world skills that people can try between appointments, such as new ways to communicate and simple coping tools for overwhelming moments.
Her background includes long-term work with mood and trauma-related concerns, as well as family-of-origin and blended family issues. That experience informs how she approaches complex family patterns and communication problems. She also brings familiarity with post-traumatic stress, sexual assault and abuse, and prejudice and discrimination when these issues are part of a client's story.
In sessions she mixes talk therapy with focused strategies. Cognitive approaches help shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. Mindfulness skills teach calmer attention to the present. Solution-focused moments move people toward immediate next steps they can actually use.
Michelle emphasizes simple, respectful care. She tailors conversations and plans to each person's situation. Taking the first step can feel hard, and she aims to make the process straightforward and manageable.
How her approaches translate to online work
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the client. It emphasizes empathy, understanding, and tailoring conversations to each person's needs, which helps with family tensions and parenting questions.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It teaches concrete techniques to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and change unhelpful behavior patterns.
Mindfulness Therapy trains gentle attention to the present moment and basic practices for calming the body and mind. These skills are useful for stress, overwhelm, and building steady focus during parenting challenges.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose or combine methods based on goals, preferences, and what feels helpful. Together they check progress and adjust techniques when needed.
For practical arrangements, confirm the therapist's available session options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week and reduce travel time. It also allows for shorter check-ins when time is limited, and options that do not require being on camera when that helps someone participate more comfortably.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
17+ years
Credentials
California
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does she help with?
She supports people facing stress, anxiety, parenting and family conflicts, self-esteem struggles, and life transitions. Additional focus areas include adoption and foster care concerns and trauma-related issues.
What is her therapeutic style like?
She uses a collaborative, down-to-earth approach that centers the client's goals. Sessions emphasize practical skills, clear steps, and respectful conversation.
How long has she been practicing?
She has 17 years of professional experience working with mood, trauma, and family-related concerns.
What credentials and location apply to this practice?
She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT, licensed in California and practices there.
Which languages are supported in sessions?
Sessions are offered in English only.
Can international clients schedule with her?
She does not accept international clients at this time.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a brief matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to the therapist's availability.