Michelle Tompkins

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor trained at The Citadel Graduate College in Clinical Counseling. I have over ten years of post-licensure experience, licensed in both Colorado and South Carolina.

I'm particularly drawn to working with people who may have experienced family trauma that creates the slow, specific exhaustion of carrying things that were never theirs to carry in the first place. Also I am drawn to peoplev who are navigating grief and loss, experiencing relational patterns that keep repeating, life transitions that have shaken their sense of identity, I also work with couples who are willing to be honest about what isn't working and brave enough to try something different.

I believe therapy works best when it feels like a genuine collaboration — when there's enough safety to be honest, enough curiosity to go deeper, and enough warmth to make the hard work sustainable. I also integrate deep creativity into my problem solving techniques. My approach is direct but never harsh, exploratory but always grounded.

I work with individuals and couples navigating grief, relational disconnection, identity shifts, and the particular exhaustion that comes from living a life that no longer fits. My training includes evidence-based approaches such as EMDR, Relational Life Therapy, and Safe Conversations, which I integrate alongside my Registered Expressive Arts Therapy (REAT) modalities as a way of accessing what words alone can't reach. I believe the most effective therapy draws on both rigorous, research-informed methods and the kind of creative, exploratory work that opens doors those methods sometimes can't.

My work centers on what I call Pattern Archaeology — a depth-oriented, expressive arts-integrated approach to understanding the emotional and relational patterns we inherit from our families and carry into our adult lives. Rather than focusing only on symptoms, I'm interested in excavating the roots: the stories, losses, and unspoken rules that shape how we love, grieve, protect ourselves, and connect with others.

The first session is an invitation, not an intake form. While I do need to gather some background, my primary goal in that first hour is to make sure you feel genuinely heard — not assessed, not categorized, just met where you are.

We'll talk about what brought you in, what you've already tried, and what you're hoping for — even if what you're hoping for is still a little fuzzy. I'll ask questions that go beyond the surface, because I'm not just interested in your presenting concern; I'm interested in the larger pattern it's part of. By the end of our first session, most clients leave with a beginning sense of what we're working toward and, more importantly, whether this feels like the right fit.

I work to create an environment that is warm, honest, and unhurried. There's no pressure to perform wellness or arrive with your story perfectly organized. You can come as you are — uncertain, grieving, stuck, or simply aware that something needs to shift. That's enough to begin.