Massachusetts License: 118908

Maine License: LC24522

Connecticut License: 15471

Director and Founder: Michelle Marchese, LICSW

I founded The Post-Traumatic Growth Group after serving as Director of the Smith College Counseling Service, where I worked with emerging adults for nearly a decade. Before that, I was a clinical supervisor at The Trauma Institute, worked in a PTSD program for the Veterans Administration, and served in community mental health clinics.

My therapy style is collaborative, interactive, and kind. I bring both an individual and systemic lens to my work and believe that connection, and even humor, is a part of the healing process. I have supported leaders, artists, other therapists, and academics using contemporary relational and evidence-based approaches which draw from liberation health, contemporary psychodynamic, and attachment theories.

My clinical and research interests include race-based stress and trauma, the role of dissociation (both helpful and unhelpful), support for LGBTQIAA+ communities, and mentoring other therapists.

I teach in the MSW and Ph.D. programs at the Smith School for Social Work, where my courses focus on intersectional trauma treatment, disability perspectives, advanced clinical supervision, and psychodynamic theory. I have presented nationally and internationally on a range of EMDR topics and have published two book chapters.

I love live music and all bodies of water, have been previously active in community arts organizing, and my best friends are canine. Speaking of canines, Stevie (Nicks) is my hypoallergenic assistant in the office. She is a rescue, and now a trained therapy dog. She may sit or interact with you or lay cozily in her bed.

All photos on this website (except associate headshots) are my own.
You can read more about my therapy and consultation offerings under “Michelle’s Services” at the top of the page.

Degree Education

  • Masters in Social Work from Smith School for Social Work -2011

  • PhD candidate at Smith School for Social Work- current

    CertificationS

  • EMDR Basic Training- 2012

  • EMDRIA Certification- 2016

  • Certified EMDRIA Consultant- 2017

  • Certificate in Advanced Clinical Supervision from Smith School for Social Work -2017

  • Certified in EMDR Group Protocol- 2024

  • Certified in EMDR Recent Episode Protocol- 2024

Additional Trainings

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy for Trauma from the National Center for PTSD- 2010

  • Progressive Counting for trauma- 2014

  • Post-graduate studies in Dialogic and Narrative approaches at The Institute for Dialogic Practice- 2011-2013

  • The Trauma Center's Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Program- 2017

  • American Psychoanalytic Association Teachers’ Academy Fellow- 2020/21

  • Yearly workshops, trainings and conferences in advanced EMDR, dissociation, including various somatic models (somatic experiencing and sensorimotor) and a range of parts work interventions (like IFS)

    MEMBERSHIPS

  • Member of EMDR International Association (EMDRIA)

  • Racial Equity Education Officer for Western Massachusetts EMDR Regional Board

  • (Past) EMDRIA International Association Regional Coordinator

  • (Past) Board President of the Western Massachusetts EMDR Regional Board

  • (Past) Steering Committee for Erikson Institute Working Conference for College Counseling Centers

Contact Michelle