Meet Michelle Goldsmith, Counsellor in Huddersfield, UK
You’re not “too much” & you don’t have to make yourself smaller to be supported.
There’s a particular kind of tired that doesn’t go away with rest.
It’s the kind that builds up when you’re always the one keeping things afloat. Maybe it’s the weight of a relationship that feels “off,” but you’re not sure why. It could be challenges of living far from home, in a place that still doesn’t quite feel like yours. Or maybe it’s navigating your identity in spaces that just don’t get you (and possibly never have).
You’ve learned to read the room before reading yourself or to smile when you’d rather shut the door and be left alone. But all of the overexplaining, shrinking, or smoothing things over is taking its toll.
If any of this sounds familiar—I’m glad you’re here.
The Way I Work
There’s no performance required here.
You don’t need to have the right words (or any words at all) to come to therapy. I’m not tick-boxing symptoms or waiting for breakthroughs. I’m paying attention to the other stuff: how you pause, what your body does, and the parts of you that feel like “too much” or not enough.
My work is relational and shaped by feminist and anti-oppressive values. I draw from somatic, creative, and nature-based approaches when they feel useful—not as techniques, but as ways back to yourself. We don’t just talk about your life, we pay attention to how it feels to live it.
For some people,
This work looks like sitting in a room and letting the silence speak as words unfold over time. For others, it means walking through the woods and letting the rhythm of movement bring up the things that need to surface.
It’s one of the reasons I offer outdoor sessions—because therapy shouldn’t be limited to four walls. Sometimes we think better when we’re moving, and sometimes our nervous systems settle more easily under open sky.
As your therapist, I’m here to be with you in the stuck places—where things feel confusing, painful, or unresolved—and to help make sense of what’s been too much to carry alone. In sessions together, quick fixes and polished answers take a backseat. We move more toward honest connection, deep listening, and making room for all the parts of your experience—including the ones you’ve had to hide just to get by.
“The fact that a person has lost her way, is injured, wandering, or wondering, is an important part of her story. Injury, in a symbolic sense, always marks the place where the ‘treasure’ will be found.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
My Background & Education
I’m a queer American expat raising two kids in the UK. I came out later in life and rebuilt things I never thought I’d rebuild. I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider—even in your own relationships. I know what it’s like to start over while carrying a lot of emotional weight. And I know how powerful it is to have someone witness that without flinching or judging.
I’ve spent over a decade in the mental health field, working across the US and UK in creative and clinical settings. I also hold advanced training in trauma, somatics, feminist therapy, and neurodiversity-affirming, anti-oppressive practice.
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Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapy and Counselling — University of Leeds
Master of Science with Distinction in Dance/Movement Creative Arts Therapy — Pratt Institute, NYC
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Mixed and Multi-Racial Heritage in Therapy
LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Care Specialist: Clinical Skills for Trauma Recovery, Identity Development, and Inclusive Practices
Introduction to Nature Allied Psychotherapy — Nature Therapy School
Somatic Therapies for Complex Trauma (CCTP-II) — Arielle Schwartz, Abi Blakeslee, and Janina Fisher
Trauma Treatment Certification Training (CCTP-I) — Janina Fisher
Diploma in Diversity, Cultural Competence, Race, and Anti-Discrimination in Therapeutic Practice — The AntiDiscrimination Focus (#TADF)
Women’s Mental Health Specialist Certificate — PESI
Black Feminism and Womanism: Therapeutic Perspectives — Claudia Coussins, Feminist Therapy Network
Birthing from a Trans Perspective — Jacob Stokoe, Make Birth Better
Reproductive Trauma: Tools for Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, Birth Trauma & Perinatal Mental Health — PESI
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Registered Member — National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS)
Let’s find the pace and process that actually works for you.
Sessions available in-person and online across the UK and Europe.