Michelle Cusick, LCSW
Owner and Therapist
Michelle Cusick is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and California native. She is passionate about holding safe, steady spaces for people during life’s hardest moments, gently supporting them as they work through challenges. Michelle takes a grounded, trauma-informed approach to therapy, focusing on helping the body and mind feel regulated and safe. She works with clients navigating stress, trauma, anxiety, depression, and life transitions, offering care, steadiness, and support as they find their way forward.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Point Loma Nazarene University and her master’s degree from California State University San Marcos. Michelle works with children (7+), teens, adults, military members, veterans, and first responders, with a clinical focus on trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and life transitions.
Her approach integrates EMDR, CBT, CPT, psychodynamic and attachment-informed therapy, and polyvagal-informed neuroscience. Therapy with Michelle is intentional, collaborative, and grounded in science and compassion — supporting emotional regulation, resilience, and meaningful, lasting change.
Michelle has worked with people from many walks of life, including active-duty military, veterans, first responders, children, teens, families, and those experiencing homelessness. She helps clients navigate trauma, anxiety, depression, and other challenges across settings like schools, behavioral health programs, and military and first responder services.
As a veteran, Michelle understands the pressures of military life firsthand. Growing up in a Chinese immigrant family, she brings a grounded, culturally aware, and compassionate perspective to every session. She is skilled at holding a safe space for others’ struggles, helping clients face stressful experiences that may be keeping them from living the life they want.
Michelle is authentic, warm, and empowering. She believes therapy should be collaborative and meet each person where they are. Her goal is to help clients feel seen, supported, and understood as they work toward healing and growth.