Lexi michaud, Trauma, Couples, and family Therapist in Pasadena, CA
Lexi Michaud
Lexi Michaud is a HOLISTIC Therapist at Holistic Trauma Therapy® in Pasadena, California. She works with individuals, couples, and families healing from trauma and abuse, difficult family dynamics, perfectionism, and the aftermath of abusive relationships. Her work is depth-oriented and informed by parts work, somatic approaches, and expressive, culturally aware care. She holds a Master of Science in Counseling and works under the clinical supervision of Dr. Caitlin LaBrie (PSY32211). She sees clients in person in Pasadena and virtually throughout California, serving the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles, and the Westside.The Things You Carry Do Not Have to Be Carried Alone.
You are the one who handles it. The one people lean on, the one who keeps everything running, the one who does not get to fall apart because who would catch it all if you did. From the outside you look fine. Maybe better than fine. But underneath there is a tightness that never fully lets go, an old wound you have never said out loud, or a relationship that keeps repeating the same painful turn no matter how hard you try.
That is not a character flaw. It is what survival looks like when you have been holding a lot for a long time. The perfectionism, the over-functioning, the way you scan a room and manage everyone's feelings before your own, these were smart. They kept you safe. The cost shows up later, in a life that runs on your effort and a body that never quite gets to rest.
NONE OF THIS MEANS YOU’RE BROKEN. AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO keep carrying IT ALONE.
Hi, I’m LEXI.
I work with the ones who hold it all together, who read a room before they enter it, who carry the family and the relationship and the weight of what happened, and who have quietly started to wonder when it will be their turn to be held.
Maybe you are tired of being the strong one. Maybe there is a family you love and still leave feeling small, a pattern in your relationships you swore you would never repeat, or a history of abuse you are still finding your way out from under. Maybe you have done therapy before, named all of it clearly, and still feel it sitting in your body, unmoved. That gap between understanding a thing and actually feeling it change is exactly where I like to work.
I take a holistic, trauma-informed, and culturally aware approach that honors every part of who you are. I work through a systemic lens, which means I hold the whole context of your life, your relationships, your family, your culture, the world around you, because none of us heals in isolation. And I believe your body carries wisdom your mind has been talking over for years, so we listen to that too.
My work is informed by parts work,somatics, narrative and expressive approaches, and depth-oriented, relational care, which means we do not stay only in your thoughts and your story. We work with the places in the body where those stories live, and with the parts of you that took on their jobs long before you had a say. I am trauma-informed and sex-therapy-informed, and I hold all of it gently, at your pace.
Here is what I want you to know before you ever walk in. You are the expert of your own experience. I will bring my training and my whole presence, but I will never hand you a worksheet and a label and call it healing. I will also laugh with you, because humor is one of the most human, connecting things we have, and some of the most healing moments I have witnessed arrived right on the heels of a good laugh. You have held the heavy and the light side by side your whole life. You get to keep doing that here.
I also understand, personally, what it is to build a life around a job that asks everything. I am also married to a first responder. I know the schedule that runs the household, the waiting, the version of the person you love that comes home a little different after a hard shift, and the quiet way you learn to hold steady for everyone else while wondering who is holding you. If you are the one wearing the badge, or the one keeping the home together while someone you love runs toward what everyone else runs from, you will not have to explain those details to me. I get it.
I practice under the clinical supervision of Dr. Caitlin LaBrie (PSY32211), and the training of Seema Sharma, SEP, LMFT, LPCC, Chief Traumatologist and founder of Holistic Trauma Therapy®.
If you are nervous about therapy, or still figuring out how to put any of this into words, you do not have to have it figured out to begin. You just have to reach out. I will meet you the rest of the way.
Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (157042)
Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (19968)
Individual Therapy
Complex Family Trauma & Dysfunctional Family Systems
Growing up in a family shaped by addiction, emotional unavailability, narcissism, or chronic conflict leaves marks that do not disappear when you move out. You may find yourself replaying old roles — the caretaker, the peacemaker, the invisible one — in your adult relationships. Therapy creates space to name what was real, grieve what you deserved and did not receive, and release the body's stored memory of growing up in an unpredictable environment. We work at the level of the nervous system, the relational pattern, and the story — so that healing is lasting, not just intellectual.
Sexual Trauma & Abuse Recovery
Sexual abuse and sexual trauma live in the body, not just the mind. Healing requires working with both — at a pace that you control, in an environment that is genuinely safe. I provide trauma-informed, somatic, and parts-based therapy for survivors of sexual abuse, assault, childhood sexual trauma, and those navigating the complex aftermath of intimate partner sexual violence. I also work with partners of sexual trauma survivors, who carry their own unique relational and emotional weight. Whether healing is just beginning or you have been in therapy before and feel stuck, we meet you exactly where you are.
Emotional & Narcissistic Abuse Recovery
Narcissistic and emotional abuse is often invisible — no bruises, no clear incident, just a steady erosion of your sense of self. You may feel confused about your own reality, hypervigilant to others' moods, or unable to trust your own instincts. Recovery involves rebuilding your internal compass, learning to trust what you feel, and developing a stable, grounded sense of who you are outside of the relationship that wounded you.
Attachment Trauma
When the people who were supposed to be safe were not — when love felt unpredictable, conditional, or absent — the nervous system learns to protect itself. Attachment trauma shows up as difficulty trusting others, intense fear of abandonment, emotional numbness, or swinging between clinging and pushing people away. Working somatically and relationally, we help the nervous system learn what safe connection actually feels like — often for the first time.
Couples Therapy
Every couple has its own language — its own patterns of connection and disconnection, repair and rupture. When trauma is part of that picture — whether shared history, individual wounds brought into the relationship, or an event that has fractured trust — couples therapy becomes not just about communication skills, but about healing.
I work with couples navigating:
High conflict and recurring cycles that feel impossible to break
Trauma histories in one or both partners that surface in intimacy, trust, or communication
First responder couples managing vicarious trauma and emotional shutdown
Couples rebuilding after sexual trauma, infidelity, or significant breach of trust
Partners of abuse survivors learning how to show up with genuine safety and understanding
My couples work is relational and somatic — drawing from Relational Life Therapy (RLT) to name dynamics clearly and compassionately, and from somatic parts work to help each partner connect with the deeper parts of themselves driving disconnection. My goal is not just to help you communicate better — it is to help you feel genuinely safe with each other.
Family Therapy
Trauma does not happen to individuals in isolation. It happens within families, and it is often passed down through families — in the patterns we learn, the roles we take on, the things we never say. Family therapy at Holistic Trauma Therapy works with the relational system itself, not just the individuals within it.
I work with families who are:
Navigating high conflict — recurring arguments, power struggles, communication breakdowns
Healing from a shared traumatic event: loss, abuse, addiction, incarceration, or divorce
Breaking generational cycles where the same patterns repeat across generations
Rebuilding after substance use, mental illness, or domestic violence has disrupted the family system
Supporting a child or teen through the aftermath of abuse, trauma, or significant loss
Working through a systemic, narrative, and somatic lens, I help families understand the patterns that have been in place long before anyone chose them — and create new ways of relating that are grounded in safety, honesty, and genuine connection.
My background & training
I rely on evidence-based care while also incorporating knowledge from my own struggles in life to support you in your healing journey.
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M.S. in Counseling (Marriage & Family Therapy Concentration) - California State University, Fullerton
B.A. in Psychology, University of La Verne
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Integrative Somatic Parts Work Certification (Level 1, 2, & 3) - The Embody Lab
Relational Life Therapy, Level 1 - Relational Life Institute
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CAMFT
OC-CAMFT
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Supervised by Dr. Michael Grey, PsyD, LMFT, ABS (136636)
Training in Holistic Trauma Therapy by Chief Traumatologist, Seema Sharma, SEP, LMFT
Frequently Asked Questions
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Holistic trauma therapy addresses the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — rather than focusing only on symptoms or thoughts. At Holistic Trauma Therapy, we incorporate somatic experiencing, parts work, relational therapy, and evidence-based modalities to help clients process trauma at the nervous system level, not just the cognitive level. This approach recognizes that trauma is stored in the body and must be released through the body for lasting healing.
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PTSD typically results from a single traumatic event. Complex trauma (CPTSD) develops from repeated, prolonged exposure to traumatic experiences — often beginning in childhood — such as abuse, neglect, emotional unavailability, or growing up in a dysfunctional family system. Complex trauma affects identity, emotional regulation, relationships, and the body in deeper and more pervasive ways. Lexi specializes in working with adults navigating complex, relational, and attachment trauma.
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Yes. Lexi works with couples where one or both partners carry trauma histories, including survivors of sexual abuse, childhood trauma, narcissistic abuse, and first responder stress. Couples therapy at Holistic Trauma Therapy is trauma-informed and somatic — addressing not just communication, but the deeper nervous system patterns that drive disconnection.
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Integrative Somatic Parts Work combines IFS-informed parts work with somatic (body-based) awareness. Rather than just talking about different aspects of yourself, this approach helps you notice how different parts show up in the body — as tension, tightness, numbness, or activation — and works with those physical sensations to facilitate deeper healing.
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Family therapy helps identify patterns, roles, and beliefs passed down through the family system — often without anyone choosing them. By working with the family as a relational system, therapy can interrupt generational cycles of trauma, conflict, and disconnection, creating new ways of relating grounded in safety and genuine understanding.
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Yes, therapy is confidential. In individual sessions, Lexi does not share information with family members without explicit written consent. In family therapy, confidentiality agreements are established at the outset so all participants understand what is and is not shared within and outside sessions.
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Yes. Lexi offers in-person sessions at the Holistic Trauma Therapy office in Pasadena, CA (65 N. Madison Avenue, Suite 707) and virtual telehealth sessions for clients throughout California.
Taking the first step is often the hardest.
A free 20-minute consultation gives you the space to ask questions, share what's bringing you here, and get a sense of whether we're a good fit — with no pressure and no obligation. You deserve a therapist who truly understands the complexity of what you're carrying. I would be honored to be that person.
Lexi provides virtual therapy to individuals, couples, and families throughout California, including Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Temple City, Sierra Madre, La Canada Flintridge, Glendale, Burbank, Los Angeles, and virtually throughout California (Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco). In-person sessions are available at our Pasadena office at 65 N. Madison Avenue, Suite 707.