Michelle Goodwin, LMHC

Adolescent Counseling, Anxiety, Depression, & Adult Issues

Michelle Goodwin, LMHC (she, her) has more than a decade of experience as an individual, family, and network therapist in community mental health settings.

Background & Qualifications

Michelle has expertise in working with people struggling with psychosis, trauma, anxiety, grief, depression, and family or network conflict. She also specializes in helping parents cope with their older teen or young adult newly experiencing psychosis. Michelle has a transparent, practical, easy-going, empathic, and culturally attuned style to help people feel at ease and understood. She uses a collaborative, reflective, person-in-context approach to understand the life-interrupting challenges that cause problems in everyday living.

She believes in the healing power of dialogue about experiences that contribute to disconnection from self and others.

Michelle practices from a pro-treatment choice, anti-oppression perspective informed by a healing justice framework. She received a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology at Assumption University in 2008 and completed post-graduate training in Open Dialogue at the Institute for Dialogic Practice in 2011. 

Testimonials

Angela helped guide me through dietary issues to help in my recovery. She was helpful in a way that wasn’t overwhelming as well as sensible considering I had the additional burden of a physical condition. Angela’s approach to analyzing issues is done thoughtfully and without judgement. She is someone who has explored wellness in all forms for most of her life and is open to sharing stories of her struggles along her path. I know she is truly a wise, gentle and nurturing woman who lives her life around her passion. I would recommend her to any and all who are looking for guidance on their path towards healing.

Angela provides a non-judgmental and safe environment to talk and examine what is not working in my life. I deeply admire her dedication and commitment to helping those of us who need this one on one support to make changes. I appreciate her knowledge of nutrition and she has helped me slowly change old mindsets and how my relationship with food has affected my body. I didn’t realize how strong my “diet mentality” was, and all the rules I had in my head about food. But mostly, Angela has taught me to find balance in other areas of my life. She has a well-rounded approach to health. If you are lucky, she may share with you her personal journey and you will see for yourself the struggles she has overcome and the beautiful way she lives the principals she recommends.

We are so lucky to have found Dr. Rein at the beginning of our marriage to set us on a course for happiness and success. My wife and I got married, had our daughter, and bought a house all in the same year after only dating for a year. When my wife first suggested counseling, I was skeptical and saw it as a sign of weakness and failure on my part, but Dr. Rein’s methods have taught us how to effectively communicate and work through difficult issues that we would not have otherwise been able to handle productively. We have learned to value and appreciate each other’s differences and how to avoid escalating disagreements that would lead into full blown arguments. I truly feel that these sessions have been invaluable for our marriage and well-being.

Dr. Rein is a very special couples therapist. He is highly skilled and patient-guided. He helped us to finally communicate effectively, which was very much like learning a new and better language. We highly recommend Dr. Rein. He offers couples insightful observations and suggestions in a very positive and productive environment.

I was referred to Angela a year ago. I felt I could not control my strong obsession with food and especially sugar and was totally out of control with my negative thought process thinking “what’s wrong with me”, “why am I doing this”, “why am I eating everything in sight”? After many years of thinking this way, I found Angela, who dug really deep to help me explore these disturbing feelings and show me the way. Due to a lifetime of trauma, I was treating food as my comfort, my life, my emotional friend! Angela took me on with such gentle, kind and compassionate wisdom. I hear her voice daily as I “take that pause” before I react. Learning about nutrition and it’s connection with mind, body and soul has a profound and positive impact on my mental health and coping abilities as well. Thank you Angela for introducing me to a whole new world of accepting myself just as I am. You’re the best!

Ive been working with Angela over the last few months. I am still learning but its been quite freeing learning the principles of Intuitive Eating with her. She has helped me work through my thoughts about my past dieting issues. I am all in and having her support has been so helpful!

I often think about how you helped us through our troubled time and just want to thank you again. Our relationship has grown better and better by the years because of our meetings with you, learning to communicate, and of course staying out of trouble on my end. Last year I took our whole family on safari and I surprised her with renewing our vows in the Kalahari Desert at sunset. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and you helped open my eyes to what I really had, because at the end of the day, she really wasn’t the cause. I sincerely want you to know that I doubt we would still be together without your help. Just so you know, anyone I talk to who has relationship issues, you’re the number I give them. Not sure if you see any of them, but for their sake, I hope so.

Angela created a very comfortable and welcoming environment for both myself and 8 year old little girl. She offered great advice in regards to nutrition and helped us get creative in our approach. She explained no food is bad and to be mindful about labeling it as such. She also reassured us that every body is different and that is something we should embrace because we are all unique and beautiful in our own way.

I just wanted to say that I enjoy the blogs that you’ve been sending and let you know that we are so grateful for your help. The “marathon sessions” were the best! That may have been more than a year ago, maybe two, but our relationship is still benefiting from the things you taught us. Now, when one of us gets upset about something, it’s not a world-ending downward-spiraling catastrophe (and that’s a relief in itself!), but instead, we can get ourselves out of it and even laugh together! It’s been great and we say all the time that we’re so thankful for you.

Angela is a friendly, knowledgeable and down to earth health and wellness professional. She brings a great deal of pride and a wealth of knowledge into her role as a nutrition therapist, wellness advocate and yin yoga teacher. When you engage with Angela, you know she’s truly present and listening. Through her caring and approachable manner, she is able to draw true connections to whoever is lucky enough to be in her presence. While Angela is warm and approachable, she also has a sense of exactness and precision when it comes to problem solving. In this way, she is able to help people both recognize and break through whatever habits may be limiting their own health optimization. I feel so lucky to call on Angela to help inspire growth in my own pursuit of balance and health.

When my husband and I started seeing Dr. Rein, we thought our relationship might not work because our personalities were too different. We had been seeing another marriage counselor for over 6 months and that just wasn’t working. Looking back, our first marriage counselor felt more like a referee. My husband and I would discuss our fights and she’d let us know which one of us was being reasonable and which one was being unreasonable; then we’d discuss our different upbringings to determine why each of us felt the way we felt. Those methods never moved us forward. Dr. Rein never felt like a referee; he felt like a coach. If my husband felt unappreciated, it was taken as a fact; it wasn’t debated. The goal was to understand how I could express my appreciation because what I was saying or doing wasn’t working. If I felt hurt by something my husband said, it was taken as a fact; it wasn’t debated or determined to be an unreasonable feeling. The goal was to help my husband understand why I felt hurt and to help him communicate his feelings in a way that wasn’t hurtful to me. After working with Dr. Rein our personalities haven’t changed but our communication has and that has made all the difference. My husband and I still have disagreements, but we know how to keep them from escalating to relationship-harming blowouts. We are much more capable of expressing our wants and needs while still expressing how much we truly care for each other. I feel like we have “us” back. We have found our friendship again; we have fun all the time and enjoy each other again. I am so incredibly grateful for Dr. Rein’s help in saving our relationship.