About Michael
Michael Cotter is a Licensed Professional Counselor who helps people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, trauma, depression, and relationship or family concerns. He works with issues such as grief, parenting stress, intimacy struggles, anger, self‑esteem, career changes, and ADHD. Michael practices in Missouri and conducts sessions in English.
He uses a direct, practical approach in sessions. Conversations focus on the problems a person brings right now. Michael listens, asks questions to clarify what matters most, and helps people set small, realistic steps to try between meetings.
Background and approach
His work draws on client-centered methods and cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful patterns of thought and behavior. He also uses existential ideas to address meaning and purpose, plus EMDR for people processing traumatic memories when that approach fits their needs. Michael has three years listed as a Licensed Professional Counselor.
He emphasizes meeting people where they are and moving at a pace they can manage. That often means combining talk-based strategies with concrete skills for coping, emotional regulation, and problem solving. Sessions can include coaching-style goal setting as well as care for complicated issues like substance use, codependency, dissociation, or family of origin problems.
Michael aims to make therapy understandable and useful, focusing on what clients want to change and how to get there step by step.
How Michael’s Approaches Work Online
Client-centered therapy focuses on the person's experience and goals. The therapist listens closely, reflects what he hears, and helps clients identify the changes they want to make. This approach is useful for people who need support deciding what matters and building motivation to act.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It teaches practical skills to test unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors, which can reduce anxiety, lift mood, and improve daily functioning. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, is used for processing traumatic memories; when appropriate it offers a structured way to reduce the intensity of distress tied to past events.
Finding the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and past experience with therapy, then suggest methods to try. Adjustments are made as work progresses so the plan fits the person's needs and pace.
Online sessions offer flexibility: video calls for face-to-face conversation, phone sessions when bandwidth is limited, live chat for shorter check-ins, and text-based messaging for ongoing support between meetings. These options let people fit therapy into work, family, and travel schedules while keeping their focus on progress and practical skills.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does he help with?
How would you describe his therapeutic style?
What is his professional background?
Where is he based and licensed?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What formats are available for meeting online?
How are fees and billing handled?
How do I begin working with him?
What this counselor works with
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- Missouri
- Languages
- English