About Michael
Michael Hurd is a licensed clinical social worker with more than three decades of experience. He focuses on practical, solution-focused work and acts as a thinking partner through stressful or confusing life moments. He speaks plainly and works with adults who want clear goals and steady progress.
Sessions focus on the here-and-now. Michael looks for strengths a person already has and helps build on them. He and the client set concrete steps to shift self-defeating behaviors and improve daily functioning.
Background and approach
He draws on client-centered ideas to keep the conversation respectful and collaborative. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are used to spot unhelpful thinking and to practice different actions. Solution-focused methods help narrow in on immediate, achievable goals so people can see change sooner.
Over a long career Michael has written books and many articles about practical self-help, and he brings that background into session as a coach and guide rather than an authority figure. He uses short-term goal setting alongside deeper personal work when it fits the client's needs.
Common concerns he addresses include stress, anxiety, addictions, depression, relationship and intimacy issues, grief, ADHD, and career or parenting strain. He accepts people from outside the U.S. and conducts sessions using video calls, phone, live chat, or text messaging. People who want straightforward, goal-oriented therapy will find a structured, conversational approach.
Michael aims to help clients identify what works for them and then put those steps into practice.
Approach-driven care available online
Michael uses Client-Centered Therapy to keep sessions collaborative and respectful, helping people feel heard and encouraging them to set their own priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and change patterns that get in the way of daily life.Choosing an approach is a shared process. Michael will talk through options and tailor methods to the client's goals, needs, and preferences. He often blends techniques so the work is practical and focused on measurable steps the client can take between sessions.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit into busy lives. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be a simpler option when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging support frequent, brief contact and ongoing coaching between longer sessions. This mix of formats gives flexibility for people balancing work, family, and other responsibilities while keeping regular progress toward their goals.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 36 years
- Licensed
- South Carolina, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Virginia
- Languages
- English
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