Michele Lando, LCSW
Somatic-minded LCSW blending body and talk therapy
About Michele
Michele Lando is a licensed clinical social worker with 13 years of practice in California. Michele offers a calm, steady presence and combines body-aware methods with talk therapy to help people who feel overwhelmed or stuck. Michele focuses on trauma-informed, somatic-informed care that attends to how stress shows up in the body.
Sessions often include grounding practices and breath-based work alongside conversation. Michele uses clear, practical tools so clients can manage symptoms between sessions.
Background and approach
Areas of focus include grief, self-esteem, compassion fatigue, attention differences such as ADHD, and concerns relevant to LGBT people. Michele also supports people navigating adoption or foster care issues, attachment concerns, chronic illness, caregiver stress, body image, and relationship patterns rooted in attachment history. Therapeutic approaches include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, attachment-based work, client-centered methods, and cognitive-behavioral techniques.
Michele blends these with somatic practices to help people notice and shift patterns held in the body. The pace and tools are adjusted to each person’s needs. Michele practices in California and brings a respectful, validating style to sessions.
People who want practical strategies and an emphasis on mind-body connection will find a straightforward, collaborative path in the work.
Therapeutic approaches that translate well online
Somatic-informed care pays attention to how stress and emotion show up in the body. In online sessions Michele may guide simple grounding, breath, and movement awareness to help people notice physical tension and shift it. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on clarifying values and building small actions that match those values while using mindfulness to reduce avoidance. It can help with motivation, anxiety, and low self-worth. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at patterns formed in relationships and helps people practice new ways of relating and feeling safer in connections.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Michele treats the choice of method as a collaboration, adjusting tools to match a person's goals, comfort level, and pace. She will discuss options and try practical exercises to see what fits best.
Online therapy offers flexibility for busy schedules and for people who prefer remote care. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction, phone sessions provide a lower-tech option, and live chat or text messaging can be useful between sessions for brief check-ins or grounding prompts. These formats make it easier to keep therapy consistent while fitting it into day-to-day life.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English