Dr. Michelle Burns

Dr. Michelle Burns is a licensed professional counselor with two decades of experience. She practices in South Carolina and brings a calm, direct approach to common life stresses. She encourages people to take the first step and recognizes that starting therapy takes courage.

She focuses on practical concerns such as relationships, parenting, anger, stress, anxiety, and coping with life changes. She also assists with grief, depression, sleep and eating struggles, and career-related worries. Additional areas include compassion fatigue, ADHD, women’s issues, aging and geriatric concerns, cancer, divorce and separation, forgiveness, life purpose, and self-love.

In sessions she creates an open space for people to talk through thoughts and feelings without judgment. She uses tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Solution-Focused Therapy to help people build skills and notice patterns that keep problems stuck. Conversations are aimed at concrete steps and clearer thinking rather than long theoretical discussion.

Her style is collaborative and straightforward. She and the client set goals together and track progress in ways that make sense for everyday life. This approach is intended to help people handle immediate problems while building long-term skills.

Dr. Burns asks new clients to reflect on what they hope to change before a first meeting. That helps shape the first few sessions and leads to a focused plan for moving forward.

How therapy approaches guide online work

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, looks at how thoughts influence actions and feelings. It uses straightforward exercises to test unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors, which can help with anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems.

DBT, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, teaches skills for managing strong emotions and improving relationships. It emphasizes moment-to-moment coping tools like distress tolerance and emotion regulation for people who feel overwhelmed.

Solution-Focused Therapy centers on small, practical changes that move a person toward their goals. Sessions tend to be goal-directed and short-term, focusing on what works rather than on lengthy exploration of the past.

Deciding which approach to use is a shared process. The therapist will work with each person to match methods to their goals, needs, and preferences. Clients and the therapist set goals together and adjust the plan as progress is made.

The biography does not list specific session formats, so confirm current options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow for shorter check-ins when needed. Licensed professionals can adapt CBT, DBT, and solution-focused techniques to remote sessions so people can practice skills between meetings and carry change into daily routines.