Michele Bonanno
I'm a licensed therapist in Florida with extensive experience supporting individuals through life's most challenging moments. Throughout my career, I've worked with clients across the lifespan, helping them navigate depression, anxiety, trauma, and a wide range of mental health concerns. My approach is deeply person-centered and trauma-informed. I believe in meeting each client where they are, with genuine respect for their unique values, beliefs, and identities. Whether you're exploring questions of faith, identity, relationships, or life purpose, I'm committed to creating a safe, nonjudgmental space where you feel truly heard and supported. I draw from evidence-based therapeutic practices to address concerns including trauma and abuse, self-esteem, communication challenges, grief, attachment issues, life transitions, anxiety, depression and much more. I'm particularly skilled at helping clients work through complex emotions like shame, guilt, abandonment, concentration, memory and focus while also building resilience and self-compassion. My goal is to walk alongside you with authenticity, curiosity, and care—honoring your strengths while supporting meaningful growth at your own pace. Taking the first step toward therapy takes courage, and I'm honored to be part of your journey.
First session
Thank you for beginning this journey. No matter what messages you may have received from friends, family members, or even your own inner critic, I believe that choosing to engage in therapy is a courageous and positive decision. Therapy is a welcoming space where every part of you is invited and accepted, including the parts that may feel difficult, uncomfortable, or vulnerable to share. As your therapist, I am honored that you have chosen this process as a path toward healing, growth, and greater self-understanding. If this is your first experience with therapy, welcome. My guess is that getting started may feel intimidating. Sharing personal thoughts, emotions, and experiences with someone you do not yet know can bring up feelings of uncertainty. Whether those feelings include sadness, anger, joy, fear, embarrassment, or confusion, I want to reassure you that therapy is designed to support your growth and well-being. There are certain conditions that help foster a therapeutic environment that is safe, supportive, and healing. Creating and maintaining those conditions is not your responsibility; it is mine. My role is to provide a judgment-free space that is both challenging and comforting, a place where insight and reflection can occur alongside encouragement and support. For those who have attended therapy before and are beginning again, welcome back. Whether you are trying therapy with a new clinician after a difficult counseling experience or returning because previous experiences helped you recognize the value of therapeutic work, you are welcome here. I am grateful that you have chosen to continue investing in your personal growth. Returning to therapy often involves revisiting previous insights, identifying new challenges, and exploring how your goals may have changed over time. It can be incredibly helpful to share your past experiences in therapy so that together we can build a trusting, collaborative, and meaningful therapeutic relationship.
Strengths
Here are some of my clinical approaches: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), Existential Therapy, Gottman Method, Jungian Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Systemic Therapy
Ideal clients
Areas of focus: Coping with addictions, Relationship issues, Family conflicts, Coping with grief and loss, Intimacy related issues, Eating disorders, Sleeping disorders, Parenting issues, Anger management, Career difficulties, Bipolar disorder, Coping with life changes, Executive and professional coaching, Compassion fatigue, Abandonment, Adoption and foster care, Aging and geriatric issues, Antisocial personality, Attachment issues, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Avoidant personality, Blended family issues, Body image, Cancer, Caregiver issues and stress, Chronic pain, illness, and disability, Co-morbidity, Codependency, Commitment issues, Communication problems, Control issues, Coping with natural or human-caused disaster, Dependent personality, Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD), Dissociation, Divorce and separation, Domestic violence, Drug and alcohol addiction, Eating and food-related issues, Emptiness, Family of origin issues, Family problems, Fatherhood issues, Fertility issues, Forgiveness, Gender dysphoria, Guilt and shame, HIV / AIDS, Hoarding, Hospice and end-of-life counseling, Impulsivity, Infidelity, Intellectual disability, Isolation / loneliness, Jealousy, Life purpose, Men's issues, Midlife crisis, Money and financial issues, Mood disorders, Multicultural concerns, Narcissism, Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD, Panic disorder and panic attacks, Paranoia, Personality disorders, Phobias, Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships, Postpartum depression, Post-traumatic stress, Pregnancy and childbirth, Prejudice and discrimination, Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Self-harm, Self-love, Sexual assault and abuse, Sexual dysfunction, Sexuality, Smoking / vaping cessation, Social anxiety and phobia, Somatization, Trichotillomania, Women's issues, Workplace issues, Young adult issues
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the primary treatment approaches I use in my practice to help clients identify and change unhelpful patterns of thinking, emotions, and behaviors that may be contributing to emotional distress or life difficulties. In therapy, I work collaboratively with clients to increase awareness of the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Together, we identify negative or distorted thinking patterns, examine the evidence supporting those thoughts, and develop more balanced and realistic perspectives. Clients are encouraged to practice these skills between sessions to promote lasting change and increased self-awareness. CBT interventions may include cognitive restructuring, identifying cognitive distortions, problem-solving skills, behavioral activation, coping skills development, stress management techniques, and structured goal setting. I also help clients develop healthier responses to challenging situations, improve emotional regulation, and build confidence in their ability to manage life's stressors effectively. This approach is goal-oriented, evidence-based, and tailored to each client's individual needs. CBT can be effective in treating anxiety, depression, adjustment difficulties, relationship concerns, work-related stress, grief, and other emotional or behavioral challenges by providing practical tools that clients can apply in their daily lives.