COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
Michelle Tsutsumi (she/her) is a trained psychotherapist with over a decade of experience supporting clients. Her areas of focus include:
About
Michelle (she/her) completed a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology degree at the University of Alberta. She was a registered psychologist in Edmonton who co-owned a private practice, worked at the U of A Hospital in the Hepatitis Support Program, and was in various roles over 10 years at the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton.
She supports clients in connecting with their sense of self, internal resources, and discerning personal experiences from systemic or structural ones. Considering the many social locations we hold, Michelle centres intersectionality and naming power dynamics that may be present in the tensions being explored.
Michelle is dedicated to creating a space of safety, connection, and belonging where clients can feel heard and explore their lived experiences without judgment. Her approach is compassionate, curious, and deeply respectful of the unique knowledge each person brings to the process.
Michelle offers individual therapy and may be booked for phone or video sessions.
Our process
Liminal spaces are the uncertain transitions from where we’ve been to where we’re going. Michelle believes that the space between the many parts that make up who we are is full of healing wisdom. Connecting with this wisdom helps us to live with presence and connection.
Counselling and psychotherapy can help to build connection with and understanding about how to access these internal resources. When we are rooted in safety, connection, and belonging within ourselves, this supports nourishing relationships with family, friends, and community.
Through Michelle’s focus on pacing set by the client and checking in with felt senses, she supports individuals in making the invisible visible. When the thoughts and feelings that trouble us are visible or known, we can tend to them.
About
Michelle (she/her) completed a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology degree at the University of Alberta. She was a registered psychologist in Edmonton who co-owned a private practice, worked at the U of A Hospital in the Hepatitis Support Program, and was in various roles over 10 years at the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton.
She supports clients in connecting with their sense of self, internal resources, and discerning personal experiences from systemic or structural ones. Considering the many social locations we hold, Michelle centres intersectionality and naming power dynamics that may be present in the tensions being explored.
Michelle is dedicated to creating a space of safety, connection, and belonging where clients can feel heard and explore their lived experiences without judgment. Her approach is compassionate, curious, and deeply respectful of the unique knowledge each person brings to the process.
Michelle offers individual therapy and may be booked for phone or video sessions.
Our process
Liminal spaces are the uncertain transitions from where we’ve been to where we’re going. Michelle believes that the space between the many parts that make up who we are is full of healing wisdom. Connecting with this wisdom helps us to live with presence and connection.
Counselling and psychotherapy can help to build connection with and understanding about how to access these internal resources. When we are rooted in safety, connection, and belonging within ourselves, this supports nourishing relationships with family, friends, and community.
Through Michelle’s focus on pacing set by the client and checking in with felt senses, she supports individuals in making the invisible visible. When the thoughts and feelings that trouble us are visible or known, we can tend to them.
Experience
Recent
2025 – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Trauma (alumni support team with Marie Damsgaard, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute)
2023 – Cultivating Safe Spaces Certified Facilitator – Train the Trainer (Elaine Alec / Naqsmist Storytellers)
2022 – Communal Consultation for Bodies of Culture (Education for Racial Equity with Resmaa Menakem)
2022 – Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism for Bodies of Culture (Education for Racial Equity with Resmaa Menakem)
Other experience
*Selected
2009 – Introduction to Non-Violent Communication (Eric Bowers)
2008 – Fresh Start Program: Living Beyond Alcohol and Drugs (16th Annual David Berman Memorial Concurrent Disorders Conference)
2007 – Trauma Treatment Training (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute)
2007 – Sandplay Therapy Training (Sylvia Simonyi-Elmer, Ph.D.)
2007 – Using Emotion to Transform Relationships: Emotionally Focused Therapy (Sue Johnson, Ph.D.)
2006 – Critical Incident Stress Management: Advanced Crisis Intervention (Bob van Goethem)
Experience
Recent
2025 – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Trauma (alumni support team with Marie Damsgaard, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute)
2023 – Cultivating Safe Spaces Certified Facilitator – Train the Trainer (Elaine Alec / Naqsmist Storytellers)
2022 – Communal Consultation for Bodies of Culture (Education for Racial Equity with Resmaa Menakem)
2022 – Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism for Bodies of Culture (Education for Racial Equity with Resmaa Menakem)
Other experience
*selected
2009 – Introduction to Non-Violent Communication (Eric Bowers)
2008 – Fresh Start Program: Living Beyond Alcohol and Drugs (16th Annual David Berman Memorial Concurrent Disorders Conference)
2007 – Trauma Treatment Training (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute)
2007 – Sandplay Therapy Training (Sylvia Simonyi-Elmer, Ph.D.)
2007 – Using Emotion to Transform Relationships: Emotionally Focused Therapy (Sue Johnson, Ph.D.)
2006 – Critical Incident Stress Management: Advanced Crisis Intervention (Bob van Goethem)
“Nourishing safety, connection, and belonging within ourselves transforms how we show up in life and in relation to family, friends, and community.”
– L. Michelle Tsutsumi
“Nourishing safety, connection, and belonging within ourselves transforms how we show up in life and in relation to family, friends, and community.”
– L. Michelle Tsutsumi
Contact
Ways to connect
As Michelle is setting up her practice in BC, she is in the process of Registered Clinical Counsellor registration. Rates for virtual counselling are $100 per 50 minute session.
She has opened a waitlist for spaces in April.
Please email michelle@liminalcounselling.ca to get in touch. We can find a time for a 20-minute initial conversation to better understand what you would like to focus on and if this feels like a good fit.