Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
David Michalicek, M.A.
“Instead of seeing the rug being pulled from under us, we can learn to dance on the shifting carpet.”
— Thomas Crum
I work with couples, individuals, and teens seeking help with relationships, grief, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, or depression.
Couples
At some point, many partners find themselves stuck in cycles of negative interactions that keep them drifting apart, robbing them of the happiness and intimate connection they once felt. My desire is to help couples identify those frustrations and transform them into moments of understanding, healing, and greater intimacy.
Individuals
Unhappy with yourself, your relationships, or the way life is unfolding? Talking with someone openly and honestly can help you see your strengths and concerns more clearly. In a warm and caring environment, we'll work together on how best to understand your situation, identify goals, and find solutions.
Teens
From mood swings to school issues, all teens have problems. Sometimes, a teen's distress rises to a level where it's important to seek professional help. However, therapy certainly doesn’t need to be reserved for life-altering events or serious mental health problems. Teens can benefit from meeting with an objective third party to talk about a variety of topics, ranging from relationship issues to questions about sexual identity. Meeting with a therapist can prevent minor issues from turning into major problems. Even just a few therapy sessions can make a big difference to overall well-being. (Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reviewed April 19, 2019.)
Premarital
Do you want to make sure that your relationship can stand the test of time? Do you want to make sure you have a fulfilling, close relationship? Are you willing to spend some time and effort to make sure that happens? Have you explored such topics as faith, values, money, vulnerability, flexibility, rigidity, life goals, sex, whether or not to have children and the ways you might parent or discipline, things which may concern you about your partner, or beliefs about what makes for a good relationship?
Parenting
Within even the most caring parent-child relationships, there may be aspects of care that are going unexpressed. My goal is to help parents more fully express these aspects to gain a more balanced approach to child-rearing that is both responsive and respectful. Often the parenting style is too soft-touch or firm-edge. What is needed is a balanced approach that integrates the two aspects, such as support and challenge, tolerance and clear/firm limits, or praise and consequences.
Grief
Grief is a process of healing, recovery, reorganization, exposing, expressing, and accepting. It is a natural process, if you allow it to happen. Real grieving begins when the honeymoon period is over -- the friends have stopped calling, everyone thinks you should be over it, the court case is resolved, “closure” has been affected, and everything is supposed to be back to normal. I have several years of experience working in peer grief counseling, as well as facilitating Child Grief and Survivor of Suicide groups.
About Me
Qualifications
I have a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University and have been working with clients since 2006, receiving my license as a Marriage and Family Therapist in 2013.
Working as a therapist is my second career. Prior to becoming a therapist, I spent over 30 years in the high-tech sector, working in various finance roles. I also have a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA and an MBA from USC.
