Michelle Kagel

Look, I get it. You're tired of being the person who says "yes" when you mean "hell no," the one who smooths over everyone else's rough edges while your own needs get buried under a pile of other people's expectations. Maybe you're the "nice guy" who finishes last or the Type A perfectionist whose anxiety is doing the driving while you're white-knuckling it in the passenger seat. If any of this sounds familiar, then Michelle Kagel might just be the therapist you didn't know you were looking for. Michelle specializes in helping people figure out who they actually are underneath all that people-pleasing bullshit. She's the kind of therapist who'll help you learn what you genuinely like (not just what you think you should like), how to say no without feeling like you need to apologize for existing, and how to build relationships that don't leave you feeling like you're constantly performing. She's curious as hell, won't judge you for that thing you did in college, and works collaboratively because surprise – you're the expert on your own life. She'll adapt to however you learn best, whether that's through talking it out, drawing pictures, or yes, the occasional well-placed f-bomb and Schitt's Creek reference. What Michelle really wants is to help you figure out what you actually want out of this one life you've got, why you keep finding yourself in the same frustrating patterns (spoiler: it's usually not coincidence), and how to make changes that don't fall apart the minute life gets messy again. She'll work with you to make sense of your story – all the messy, complicated, beautiful parts of it – and help you start writing a new chapter that feels more like you and less like you're trying to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Character in Someone Else's Life. And yes, she's been called the Rachel Bloom of therapists, which she takes as the highest compliment because honestly, who wouldn't want to be compared to the genius behind Crazy Ex-Girlfriend?