Liz Michaud, LMFT

with LifeStance Health in Emeryville, CA

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #104994
Psychotherapy for Adult Individuals


Trauma-Informed

In-Person + Virtual

  • Creating a safe space is the foundation of my therapy approach. From there, I work with my clients to treat anxiety, depression, trauma and more.

An Integrative Therapeutic Approach

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

    My approach is inspired by Internal Family Systems, also known as IFS. This allows me to work with trauma in creative, non-shaming and deeply transformative ways.

  • Drama Therapy

    I utilize therapeutic interventions inspired by Drama Therapy and Gestalt Therapy which allow my clients to experience authentic emotional connection with themselves. This can help access self-compassion, which we all need more of.

  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

    I integrate elements of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) into my approach to empower clients with actionable tools. This can help my clients deal with emotions, improve their relationships and access wisdom in ways that honor each individual’s unique identity, culture and lived experience.

Treating the whole self

  • If you think you struggle with low self-esteem, you can benefit from therapy. I can help you recognize the parts of your mind which tend to be critical toward you and make you feel bad about yourself. Together, we can work toward creating meaningful change in the way you see yourself. This can lead to having more self-respect and can allow you to view yourself for your strengths and positive contributions to the world.

  • Investing in therapy can be effective in developing a healthy sense of self-confidence. If you struggle with imposter syndrome, self-doubt, or you think you don’t have what it takes to strive toward your dreams, this is something that we can work on together in therapy. I can help you gain an understanding of where these challenges come from, and help you work toward feeling more and more like the leader you deserve to be for your own life.

  • Self-trust means that you know that you are safe in your own hands, under your own leadership. If you find that you trust other people’s opinions more than your own, or you question your own feelings and experiences, you may benefit from building more self-trust. Self-trust doesn’t mean thinking that you will be perfect all the time, or that you will always know what the right answers are. It means that you know you have the right to trust your own feelings and experiences, make your own decisions about your life, and it means knowing you can turn to yourself as resource when you need help. Self-trust means that when life gets hard, you know you always have a friend by your side: you.

  • This goes beyond self-care as it is often talked about in social-media. This kind of self-care is also sometimes referred to as self-parenting, or re-parenting you inner-child. This means building a true bond with the parts of you that you sometimes don’t like, don’t understand, and that you wish you could change. It means giving all parts of you - the good and the bad - a safe space. That can include giving yourself encouragement to lift your self-esteem, the grace to make mistakes and learn from them, and the accountability that encourages active participation in your life. Self-care means showing up for yourself when you are at your best, when you are at your worst, and giving yourself a break for being imperfect. We are all only human, after all!

We may be a fit if…

  • Racing heart / palpitations

    Stomach issues

    Headaches

    Muscle tension

    Changes in appetite

    Difficulty catching your breath

    Difficulty concentrating / making decisions

    Easily irritated / feelings of anger

    Restlessness

    Feeling nervous or on-edge

    Feeling a sense of danger or doom

    Feeling exhausted

    Frequent worry

    Ruminating on the same problems over and over

    Having trouble winding down or calming your mind

    Avoidance of things that feel stressful

    Sleep problems

    Grinding your teeth or chewing the inside of your cheeks

    Changes in sexual interest

  • Frequently feeling sad, hopeless, or empty

    Frequently feeling irritable or frustrated

    Loss of motivation or pleasure in doing things that you used to enjoy

    Frequently feeling low-energy / finding it hard to “get-going”

    Difficulty concentrating or making decisions

    Sleeping too much, or not sleeping enough

    Changes in appetite and/or weight

    Being less physically active

    Speaking or moving more slowly than usual

    Chronic feelings of guilt and/or feelings of worthlessness

    Neglecting your personal hygiene

  • Each individual experiences life in their own unique way, and responds to things differently. However, trauma is generally defined as any experience that leaves a person feeling:

    Terrified

    Ashamed

    With feelings of persecutory guilt

    Helpless

    Harmed, at risk of being harmed, or fearful of being harmed

    These are just some events that can be traumatic, though there are many more. Below is a list of life events that are commonly experienced as traumatic, particularly when they happen during childhood:

    Exposure to violence

    Experiencing physical, verbal, emotional or sexual abuse

    Childhood neglect

    Experiencing abandonment or rejection from a parental or guardian figure

    Experiencing the loss of a close family member or friend

    Witnessing or enduring domestic violence

    Experiencing the divorce of your parents or guardians

    Having a parent or family member who had a mental illness or substance abuse issue

    Experiencing discrimination

    Being bullied

    Housing insecurity / instability

    An absence of medical care

    Economic insecurity