About Michelle

My Background

I’m Michelle C. Fogli, LMFT. I’ve been working as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 2008. Before becoming a therapist, I was a team-building and leadership facilitator for corporate, non-profit, and academic organizations. I climbed telephones poles at 5:30 AM and watched mismatched humans become teams of effective communicators that were high-fiving and hugging by the end of the day. This was fun, exciting, and exhilarating, but somehow I left each day wanting more. I wanted to help people change, not for their jobs or their teams or the people around them, but for themselves.

I went back to school and got my master’s degree in counseling psychology with a focus on Marriage and Family Therapy. I spent my early years at the Department of Children and Family Services investigating child abuse, domestic violence, and substance abuse. I taught anger management classes, assessed appropriate home placements, monitored visitations, provided in-home mental health, and wrap-around services. I looked into the face of LA county’s underserved communities and offered what little help I could with limited resources and supervision.

The work was gut-wrenching, terrifying, and incredibly rewarding. In order to continue to show up every day, I needed to develop belief systems around pain, conflict, loss, and grief. I built new ways of life and grounding practices that allow me to sit with you in your pain. And to know without any doubt that you are exactly where you need to be, doing exactly what you need to be doing, and so am I.