Therapy Services & Specialties | Grunstein & Associates

Michelle Grunstein, LMFT, seated at a coffee shop

Providing specialized therapeutic care blending decades of experience with a compassionate, evidence-based approach tailored to each client's unique needs and goals.

Areas of Practice

How I can
Help You

I have extensive treatment experience working with a wide spectrum of clinical concerns, ranging from chronic mental illness, suicidality, trauma, and addiction to anxiety and depression, grief and loss, relational conflict, family building and parenthood, and significant life transitions. I believe the challenges that bring someone to therapy rarely exist in isolation, and effective treatment needs to consider the whole person rather than simply addressing a diagnosis or presenting issue.

I strive to meet my clients where they’re at and provide support that will be effective both in the moment and long-term. My goal is to promote growth while helping you develop the insight and tools to navigate difficult situations on your own.

Infertility & Parenthood
PMH-C

The path to parenthood doesn’t always look or feel the way you expected. Infertility, fertility treatment, pregnancy loss, pregnancy, postpartum challenges, and the transition to parenthood can bring anxiety, grief, uncertainty, and changes in your sense of self and relationships. Therapy can help you navigate the emotions and changes that come with these experiences while finding ways to cope, reconnect with yourself, and adjust to a life that may look very different from what you imagined.

Anxiety & Depression

Anxiety and depression don’t always look the way you expect. You may be functioning well on the outside while feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, unmotivated, or constantly in your own head. Overthinking and persistent self-doubt can make it difficult to relax or sleep, while stress, isolation, and losing interest in things you normally enjoy can leave you feeling like it takes more effort than it should just to get through the day. In therapy, you don’t have to perform or pretend you have it all together. We can work together to find more effective ways to cope, make things feel more manageable, and restore a sense of hope.

Core Specialties

EMDR & Trauma
Attachment-Focused EMDR

Trauma may show up as exhaustion, feeling constantly on edge, emotional reactivity or numbness, negative self-talk, avoidance, or patterns in relationships that are difficult to understand or change. Treatment can help you process past experiences, recognize connections between past and present that may not be immediately obvious, reduce their impact on your life, and foster emotional resilience and healing. EMDR is an incredible tool for working through trauma, particularly when traditional therapy has plateaued or it feels too big to talk about, and can also be effective for anxiety, depression, and grief and loss.

Grief & Loss

Grief can be unpredictable. Loss might refer to the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a major life change, or letting go of a future you once imagined for yourself. You may have days when you feel okay and others when something small brings the loss right back to the surface. You may miss what you lost deeply while also feeling angry, guilty, relieved, or confused. Grief is rarely straightforward. It’s not linear, and there is no timeline for working through it; you may feel like you’re taking one step forward only to take two steps back. Together, we explore how to safely maintain a connection to who or what you lost. We focus on how to carry what you’ve lost without the pain consuming you.

Addiction & Recovery
CATC-IV

Whether you’re questioning your relationship with substances, struggling to stop despite the consequences, newly sober, or years into recovery and finding that sobriety hasn’t resolved everything, therapy can help you understand what’s driving the patterns that keep you stuck. Together, we can address addiction alongside co-occurring mental health concerns and build a recovery that feels sustainable beyond simply not using.

Life Transitions

Many people believe you only go to therapy when something is 'broken' or when you have a specific mental health diagnosis. But often, the catalyst for seeking support is simply navigating a major change. Even exciting or planned life transitions disrupt our routines, shift our identities, and demand a lot of emotional energy. You don't need to be in a crisis to benefit from a dedicated space to process, recalibrate, and figure out your next steps.

My Therapeutic Approach

My approach to therapy is individualized, drawing from a range of evidence-based techniques depending on each client’s needs, experiences, and goals. While I’m trained in various modalities, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, and Attachment-Focused EMDR represent the foundation of my practice.

These modalities are particularly beneficial in helping you understand the connection between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, as well as the underlying mental health issues that may contribute to substance use, relationship difficulties, or other challenges preventing you from effectively navigating a life worth living.

My clients find great benefit and relief through Attachment-Focused EMDR, which assists individuals in processing difficult or distressing experiences, reducing their emotional impact, and gaining the ability to move forward despite the adversity they may have experienced.