Michelle Barber, LCSW — Individual Therapy + Couples & Sex Therapy, NJ
Gottman Method · Sex Therapy · EMDR · Virtual Across New Jersey
Michelle Barber, LCSW, provides virtual therapy for adults located in New Jersey. She sees individual clients working through anxiety, depression, and trauma, and is a Gottman-trained couples and sex therapist for couples working through communication patterns, sexual intimacy, and relationship trauma.
Individual Therapy
You've been managing it.
Let's actually work on it.
Michelle works with individual adults navigating anxiety, depression, and trauma. Using EMDR alongside talk therapy, she helps clients process what's keeping them stuck — whether that's a specific traumatic event, a persistent low mood, or anxiety that's started running the show.
Individual therapy might be a fit if:
You feel anxious or on edge more days than not, and can't quite pin down why
You're going through the motions, but the low mood won't lift
Something happened — recently or a long time ago — that you still feel stuck on
You find yourself replaying the same memory, conversation, or "what if" on a loop
You're functioning fine on the outside, but something feels off underneath it
You're ready to talk to someone, but don't know where to start
The couples therapist for the conversation you've been avoiding
You've probably already tried talking about it. Maybe you've even tried therapy — the kind where you learned "I-statements" and left every session having communicated about the problem without ever touching it. The distance. The sex that stopped. The thing that happened that neither of you brings up anymore.
That's the work Michelle does.
One therapist for the pattern, the intimacy, and what's underneath it
Michelle is a Gottman-trained couples therapist with advanced training in sex therapy and EMDR — a combination that matters more than it sounds like it should. The Gottman Method gives your relationship structure: research-backed tools for the arguing, the criticism, the shutdown. Sex therapy training means the intimacy issues most therapists tiptoe around are, in her office, just part of the work — talked about directly, without embarrassment, at a pace you can handle. And EMDR means that when the real obstacle turns out to be older than the relationship — past trauma, betrayal, shame that predates your partner — she can treat it in the room instead of referring one of you somewhere else and stalling the work for months.
One therapist. The pattern, the intimacy, and what's underneath it.
Training & Specialized Education
Gottman Method
Level 2 trained in the Gottman Method — the most research-backed approach to couples therapy in existence. This is the structure underneath every session.
Sex Therapy
Advanced training in sex therapy— desire, intimacy, and sexual health, addressed directly with clinical tools most couples therapists were never taught.
EMDR
Trained in Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing — so when trauma, shame, or betrayal is underneath the relationship problem, it's treated in the same room.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, Michelle works with any couple — married, engaged, dating, or long-term partners — regardless of relationship structure, including LGBTQ+ couples.
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Because Michelle is licensed only in New Jersey, everyone involved in a session needs to be located in New Jersey at that time. If a partner is regularly out of state, this can be discussed during the intake call.
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NO! Sex therapy is entirely talk-based. Sessions address concerns like low or mismatched desire, intimacy avoidance, and sexual communication through conversation and clinical tools — there is never a physical or hands-on component.
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Michelle works with individual adults on anxiety, depression, and trauma, using EMDR alongside talk therapy.
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The first session is a chance to share what's bringing you in, your history, and what you're hoping therapy will help with. For couples, this usually includes some time together and some time understanding each partner's perspective individually. There's no pressure to have it all figured out — Michelle will guide the conversation.
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Most clients start with weekly sessions, since consistency makes the biggest difference early on. As things progress, many move to every other week. Michelle will talk through what pace makes sense for you during the intake call.