Michelle Vickers

Most people I work with are carrying something they've stopped talking about. Some are veterans dealing with what started after the deployment ended. Others got a diagnosis that changed what their body can do, or are in the middle of a divorce or career change they didn't choose. What they share is being tired of explaining themselves to someone who only wants to treat one symptom at a time.

I'm a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Qualified Supervisor in Florida, and I'm completing my PhD in Advanced Studies in Human Behavior with research on combat trauma in veterans. Before that I spent six years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, helping people with disabilities and serious health conditions rebuild a working life. That work taught me a health change is never only a health change. It follows people into their job and their marriage.

Sessions with me aren't fifty minutes of nodding. I'll ask direct questions, we'll figure out what's actually driving the thing you came in for, and you'll leave with something to try before the next one.

A lot of people worry that trauma therapy means being made to relive the worst thing that happened to them. That's not how I work. We go at the pace you set, and we spend as much time on getting through this week as on the past. If an approach isn't helping, tell me and we'll change it.

Mostly you'll talk and I'll listen. I'll ask what brought you here now and what you've already tried. You don't need to have it organized or know where to start. That's my job.

By the end I'll tell you honestly whether I think I'm the right fit. If I'm not, I'll say so and help you figure out who might be. If you've been putting this off because you're not sure it's bad enough, that usually means it's been going on a while.