Michael Sadowsky
Who I Work With
I tend to connect well with people who feel like they don’t belong. People who feel like weirdos and seem to exist in liminal spaces, yet also yearn for a life of belonging and purpose. I work with those who want to find their place in the world and a deeper connection to themselves—those who want to get a clearer picture of who they are, where they came from, and what they want out of life. If you are ready to identify what keeps tripping you up and finally lay those patterns down, we will likely click.
I frequently help others navigate complex trauma, grief, gender and sexual identity, neurodivergence, depression, and anxiety. I work best with people who do not refuse the messiness of life and who want to grow in their own wisdom, while also developing and/or rekindling trust in themselves and the world.
About Me
I grew up in Western North Dakota and central Montana as the latest in many generations of family farmers. I spent much of my childhood exploring the prairies, badlands, mountain streams, buttes, and forests of those areas. Through this, I developed a keen interest in gardening, animals, and medicinal herbs, and was spiritually shaped by a deep sense of “spirit of place.”
I was also profoundly shaped by grief in my early 20s when my fiancé died tragically in a car accident. This gave me personal experience with the heavy intersection of trauma and bereavement, and how grief can obliterate life as you know it. It was an intimate encounter with suffering, and how suffering can strip away the ego, opening a person up to profound vulnerability and kindness. I would not have come into my work as a therapist without this tragedy.
I hold master’s degrees in both Social Work and Holistic Health Care. While I am highly interested in integrative and alternative medicine, when in doubt, I side with science. My own self-care and therapeutic perspectives are shaped by a dedicated meditation practice and a deep interest in Buddhist philosophy. I have an immense gratitude for my work and strive to engage lovingly with the world.
What We Work On
Grief & Loss
Identity
Anxiety
Trauma / PTSD
Depression
Purpose & Meaning
How I Work
I act as a companion when I work with you, leading with curiosity and openness. We are in this together. You are the expert in your own life so far. Together, we’ll figure out what is working and what isn’t, honor the strategies that got you here, and identify what is getting in the way of the life you want to live so you can finally let it go.
I take an eclectic therapeutic approach, drawing from relational work, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, CBT, and DBT. I also geek out about neurobiology and complementary alternative medicine, and I am always excited to help people identify and incorporate practical, useful behavioral changes into their daily lives.
Where I’m Not a Fit
I am not a great fit for someone striving for perfection and looking to optimize everything, or who wants a therapist-drill sergeant to tell them exactly what is wrong and hold them rigidly accountable. My approach is to lean into the tender parts and complexities of life to help heal and integrate them, while entirely respecting you and your unique process.
Many of the people I work with are already too hard on themselves. We’ll work to improve your relationship to yourself along the way. I will help keep you accountable and true to yourself, while we work to lay down the burdens of shame and toxic expectations.
Outside the Practice
I am an avid gardener. My partner and I probably qualify as urban farmers with the dozens of tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables we grow, alongside a small urban orchard in my yard. We donate a significant portion of this produce to local food shelves. I am also a canner, lacto-fermenter, hot sauce maker, wine maker, composter, mechanic, passable rhythm guitarist, and all-around DIYer. I have a vintage, off-grid micro-motorhome with a tiny wood stove that I have been renovating for several years—you may even see me inside it during virtual therapy sessions!
I enjoy reading, camping, and going out to see folk, dream pop, drone, and psych-rock shows. I also share my home with a very anxious but spirited calico cat named Moose. I gave her a big, strong name because she was the most anxious little kitten I’d ever met. We’re best pals, and she likes to play fetch.
Rabbit Holes
Retro music & music history
History & improv comedy podcasts
DIY projects
Notoriously bad movies
Influences
Stephen Jenkinson & the Orphan Wisdom School
Nick Cave
The strong, lovely queer and female friends I have made along the way
Calvin and Hobbes
Dr. Joanna Cacciatore (her Compassionate Bereavement Care training + Selah Care Farm)
The Velvet Underground
Something People Wouldn’t Guess About Me
I have a fondness for James Bond movies, especially the ones from the 1960s through the 1980s. They have many warts, and yet they are one of the most enjoyable and rewarding cultural study pieces I have encountered in media. They function as geographic time capsules; I love seeing what those filming locations looked like at those specific points in history. The movies have taught me a lot about how to examine and hold historical and cultural complexities. (And A View to a Kill—the notorious one with Christopher Walken—helped spawn my love of bad movies)