About Michael
Prof. Michael McGaugh helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, ADHD, and relationship or intimacy concerns. He also supports those dealing with trauma, parenting strain, anger, low self-esteem, career questions, and compassion fatigue.
He is an LPC with 22 years in the mental health field and practices from Missouri. McGaugh’s style is straightforward and practical. He listens first, then helps people name the problem and choose small steps forward.
Background and approach
Sessions focus on day-to-day skills people can use between meetings. He values clear, usable strategies that fit a client’s life. His background includes roles as an adult case manager and an intake specialist.
Over time he found his most rewarding work was counseling people one-on-one. That mix of community and clinical experience shapes a balanced approach in sessions. Clinically he draws on client-centered work, cognitive behavioral techniques, and emotionally-focused ideas.
He also uses existential and mindfulness approaches when they match a client’s needs. These methods are used to help people notice patterns, shift unhelpful thinking, and build coping skills. Clients can expect a collaborative process that emphasizes practical change.
The goal is to help people make choices that lead to feeling better and functioning more confidently. He aims to help people become more mindful and empowered in their decisions.
How his approaches translate to online care
Client-Centered Therapy places the person’s experience at the center of sessions and emphasizes listening and empathy to help people clarify what matters to them. This approach helps with issues like low self-esteem, grief, and life transitions by making space for someone to tell their story and set their own goals.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting and changing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns. It offers concrete exercises and homework that help with anxiety, depression, panic, and some ADHD-related struggles by building practical skills for daily life.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) looks at emotional responses and how they shape relationships and personal patterns. This work can help people understand attachment, intimacy concerns, and intense emotional reactions so they can respond differently in close relationships.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. He will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match their goals, preferences, and the challenges they bring to sessions. That means trying things, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan as needed.
Online formats make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives. Video calls let people read visual cues and work through exercises live. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging allow shorter check-ins, quick coping reminders, or ongoing support between longer sessions. These options add flexibility so people can engage in therapy in ways that suit their day-to-day demands.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Missouri
- Languages
- English
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