Liz Michaud, LMFT
with LifeStance Health in San Francisco, CA
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #104994
Psychotherapy for Adult Individuals
Trauma-Informed
Liberation-Oriented
In-Person + Virtual
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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
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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. It can help us to understand how the familial, social and cultural systems that we have grown up within inform how we see ourselves and others, and how this knowledge can light a path for us to create more self-love and connection moving forward.
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Drama Therapy
I utilize therapeutic interventions inspired by Drama Therapy and Gestalt Therapy which can allow my clients to experience authentic emotional connection with themselves, and repair their relationship with parts of themselves that tend to get sidelined. This can help access self-compassion and self-acceptance, which can lead to a sense of feeling seen, and feeling whole.
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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 difficult emotions, improve their relationships and empower a sense of autonomy. This can also help people access wisdom from deep inside of themselves, drawing upon each individual’s unique identity, culture and lived experience.
Treating the whole self
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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
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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
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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