Michael Mcbrearty

Michael Mcbrearty is a licensed clinical social worker who brings 20 years of experience to sessions. He offers a warm, accepting, and nonjudgmental presence that aims to help people facing anger, anxiety, stress, and life changes. He writes plainly and listens closely to what matters most to each person who reaches out. His work combines practical cognitive-behavioral strategies with mindfulness and motivational interviewing. In sessions he focuses on skills you can try between meetings - breathing and attention practices, small behavior changes, and ways to notice patterns that keep problems going. He also helps people sort through relationship pain, grief, addiction concerns, and issues around identity and intimacy. Mcbrearty earned a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University and holds LCSW credentials in New Jersey and New York. He is also a credentialed alcohol and substance abuse counselor in New York. That background informs his familiarity with substance use concerns and co-occurring issues. People come for support with career stress, depression, trauma and abuse, ADHD, and caregiver strain among other concerns. He works with LGBT-related issues and intimacy-related problems, helping clients name goals and try concrete steps toward them. Therapy with him is collaborative: he helps people set realistic goals and adjust approaches as work proceeds. If you’re thinking about starting, he asks about your priorities and helps match methods to what feels most useful for you.

How ACT, CBT, and Client-Centered Work Online

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice the thoughts and feelings that get in the way of living a meaningful life. In practice this means learning to observe inner experiences and choose actions that match personal values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact and teaches practical strategies to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathy and respect, giving people a chance to be heard and to guide the pace and content of their work.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist works collaboratively to identify which methods fit a person's goals and preferences. Together they try options, adjust strategies, and keep what helps while changing what does not.

Session formats are not listed in the biography, so confirm current online options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life - for example by reducing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins on a lunch break, or letting someone attend from a quieter spot with good internet. Licensed professionals can use these methods to teach breathing and grounding exercises, practice new communication skills, and set small behavioral experiments between meetings.