About Michelle
Michelle Hannah
Registered Psychotherapist
My training at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto grounded me in present-moment awareness — trusting what emerges in the body, in silence, in subtle shifts. It taught me to stay with what’s happening here and now, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Before becoming a therapist, I studied photography and communication. That training shaped how I work: attuned to nuance, aware of perspective, and interested in what changes when we adjust the frame.
Outside of work, you’ll find me biking, singing, or walking my American Bulldog, Frankie — who reminds me daily that regulation sometimes looks like fresh air and unhurried exploration.
I’ve always been drawn to what lives beneath the surface — the layers beneath reactions, the meaning underneath overwhelm, the stories our bodies carry long before we have language for them.
My work is shaped by depth, nuance, and lived sensitivity. As someone who is neurodivergent, I understand what it’s like to move through the world feeling both capable and overstimulated — sharp and sensitive at the same time. That perspective informs how I sit with clients who think deeply, feel intensely, and are often harder on themselves than anyone else ever could be.
I won’t rush your process or flood you with strategies. I offer steadiness. Careful attention. A space where you don’t have to hold yourself together.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor E. Frankl
My Approach
If this feels like a fit,
let’s talk.
A little about how I work —
and the experiences that have shaped the way
I practice therapy.
We slow down.
We stay with what’s unfolding.
Insight happens in the pause.
In our work, we pay attention to what’s happening right now —
in your body, in your thoughts, in the space between us. We don’t rush to solve. We notice.
We work with your nervous system, not against it.
If you’re overwhelmed, we don’t analyze you out of it.
We regulate first.
Therapy with me often includes gently tracking sensation, breath, emotion, and patterns that show up in real time. When your body feels safer, your mind follows.
We explore patterns without shame.
You’re not “too sensitive.”
You were often responding to more than others
could see.
And the ways you learned to protect yourself make sense in that context. We’ll look at which of those protections still serve you now.
We stay relational.
Therapy isn’t something I do to you.
It’s something we build together.
I’ll reflect honestly. I’ll name what I notice. And I’ll invite you into curiosity instead of self-criticism.