Michael Knapik, LPC, LCMHC

Michael Knapik is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Virginia and a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) in Vermont with 18 years of experience. He works with adults who are coping with stress, anxiety, addiction, grief, anger, life transitions, relationship and intimacy concerns, sleep problems, mood disorders, and related struggles.

He draws on several proven approaches rather than a single method. Michael uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive behavioral tools, dialectical behavior strategies, client-centered work, and existential ideas to help people sort through what matters and what gets in the way.

In sessions he emphasizes clients' strengths and practical skills. Conversations often include noticing patterns, testing new behaviors, and learning ways to tolerate distress without acting on every impulse. He also brings techniques from mindfulness-based stress reduction and solution-focused work when useful.

Michael has a long background in hospice volunteering and decades of previous professional experience outside mental health. That history shapes his attention to grief, end-of-life issues, caregiver stress, and meaning questions that can appear alongside anger and loss.

He often helps people dealing with compulsive behaviors, substance struggles, codependency, and process addictions. He also supports those facing the emotional strain of aging, serious illness, or caregiving while addressing anger, guilt, and shame.

Practical steps are part of his practice: identifying doable changes, building emotion regulation skills, and clarifying values. He encourages small moments of self-compassion as one way to shift how someone responds to daily stresses and strong feelings.

Therapeutic approaches and how online work can fit