Michelle Lepak LCSW

Michelle developed the Presence Psychotherapy trauma treatment model and ORBITS for Everyone process.   She has been clinical associate faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Psychiatry, and has taught psychologists, social workers and LPCs trauma treatment at Rutgers University as well as postgraduate training institutes such as The National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP) and The Training Institute for Mental Health.  Michelle has published in the Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy and the Journal of Hospital and Community Psychiatry.   Michelle has been a psychotherapist and meditator for 30 years and maintains a private practice in Montclair, NJ  where she provides online consultation and training for psychotherapists.

Presentations and Papers:

Dissociation and Complex Trauma – Presented at the National Institute of the Psychotherapies. NY, NY.  April 2018.

Integrating Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR.  Presented at the National Institute of the Psychotherapies, NY, NY April 2015.

Balancing Emotions during COVID.  Techniques from Internal Family Systems and Somatic Experiencing. Presented nationally at the NASW-NJ social work conference, April 2020.

IFS Consultant

Michelle provides consultation groups for therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and confidence doing Internal Family Systems therapy.  She is approved by the IFS Institute to provide consultation hours toward IFS certification for therapists who have completed level 1 IFS training.  Michelle  receives individual supervision from Richard Schwartz, developer of Internal Family Systems.