Dr. Michelle Le-Chau is a licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY 17306) practicing in West Los Angeles and Westlake Village, California. Dr. Le-Chau works collaboratively with clients and believes that client's personal involvement in creating mutually agreed upon and meaningful goals in treatment increases the client's motivation and effort to work towards these goals. Dr. Le-Chau enjoys working with adults and older adolescents and their families. Areas of interest include mind/body health issues, depression, anxiety, grief, transitional life issues, eating disorders, and trauma.
Dr. Le-Chau's work with clients integrates training from Cognitive-behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapies (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-ACT) and Somatic Experiencing. ACT takes on a different approach to psychological health than other treatment approaches. ACT's goal is to help an individual live a valued life with psychological flexibility by taking effective action towards a meaningful life even if uncomfortable experiences, thoughts, feelings, and sensations occur. It is less about problem-solving and more about committing to actions toward our values. For more information on ACT, go to www.contextualscience.org and click on ACT (About). Somatic Experiencing is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution of post-traumatic stress reactions. According to Peter Levine, creator of Somatic Experiencing "Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds." Somatic Experiencing offers a new and hopeful perspective on trauma, which view human beings as having the instinctual capacity to heal traumatic events. For more information on Somatic Experiencing, go to www.traumahealing.com. Dr. Le-Chau's clinical experience has informed her that these approaches described above work compatibly together to care for the mind/body/spirit needs of an individual on their journey of healing and wellness.
It is important for a therapist to embody the attitudes that nurture healing in therapy. Dr. Le-Chau's personal mindfulness and centering practice continues to draw upon and cultivate what scientist, writer, and meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn describes as the attitudinal factors of mindfulness practice: non-judgment, acceptance, patience, beginner's mind/curiosity and trust. Dr. Le-Chau's professional affiliations include serving as the Los Angeles County Psychological Association (LACPA) Mindfulness & Spirituality Special Interest Group Facilitator and LACPA Professional Member, and Member of American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science (ACT association).
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