Dr. Michael McClendon

When we have the courage to walk into our story and own it, we get to write the ending - Brene Brown. It takes an immense amount of effort and intention to own our failings, limits, insecurities, shame, regrets, and pains. Yet the work of embracing those aspects of our lives frees us from the prison of pretending that they do not exist. My clinical and professional work has been to help people move away from mindsets fixated on the fantasy of perfectionism in order to live into a reality of grace, acceptance, and appreciation or ourselves as we are rather than who we believe we "should" be.

My approach to therapy is integrative across a variety of evidence based and supported treatments. I want to help clients understand the patterns of their life, and how that is connected to what they are experiencing in the immediate moment - so insight oriented therapy is a strong emphasis. However, insight without an application of how to wield that knowledge is often frustrating and even useless, so I work to help tailor fit strategies for how to generate change on a daily basis in collaboration with clients.

Clients can expect to leave each session with a sense of feeling heard, accepted, and understood; and also leave with something as a challenge to contemplate between sessions.