Dr. Michaela Hammer , LCSW

Dr. Michaela Hammer uses a client-centered approach that keeps the person and their goals at the center of care. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 35 years of experience. She focuses on helping people through relationship strain, grief, depression, anxiety, stress, life transitions, and issues around intimacy and parenting.

She helps people separate myths from facts during life changes. She talks through what is normal and what might need attention. She offers memory loss and cognitive functioning assessments and helps people understand possible causes and next steps.

Dr. Hammer also provides support for pet grief and loss, recognizing that losing a four-legged family member can be deeply painful. She works to offer practical resources and emotional support for those losses that are often overlooked.

Her background includes decades of work across settings such as offices, homes, schools, retirement communities, nursing homes, and hospitals. She has led in-services on cultural awareness and aging, and has helped set up memory clinics while conducting routine depression and anxiety assessments.

She draws on life experience as well as professional training to hold a steady, respectful presence in sessions. Conversations focus on real-life problems and realistic next steps. The goal is to help people move forward with dignity and renewed purpose.

Therapeutic approaches that translate well to online care

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the person. Sessions prioritize the client's goals and personal values, helping them decide what to work on and how to proceed. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns; it is often used for anxiety, depression, stress, and mood disorders.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences, try methods that fit the issue, and adjust the plan as progress is made. That collaborative process helps ensure sessions feel relevant and doable for each person.

Online therapy with video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging makes scheduling more flexible and helps people keep regular contact between appointments. Video is useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues, while phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a shorter break. Live chat or text messaging can support quick check-ins, goal reminders, and brief processing between longer sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, or other commitments.