About Dr. Kukla

** We have tele-therapy: therapy via secure video conferencing and telephone during the COVID-19 pandemic **

Michelle Kukla, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience in helping individuals cope with emotional and physical pain associated with psychiatric and medical illnesses.  She is the owner and founder of Healthy Living Counseling Center, a health consortium compromised of a team of wellness professionals providing exemplary health care services.  She obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from Roosevelt University.  Dr. Kukla completed her internship training with Mayo Clinic Health System.  She also completed a two year fellowship in Neuropsychology.  She has appeared on television for her clinical work with children, teens, and adults and is also an Expert Topic writer for GoodTherapy.org.

Dr. Kukla has a uniquely diverse training background and in depth study of the brain and behavior as a neuropsychologist.  Through her advanced training in neuropsychology she is uniquely versed in the ability to apply neurally-inspired behavioral interventions that help you to rewire your brain to produce positive behavioral change and improve the quality of your life. Her multiple specialty areas allow her to provide individual and family therapy with both medical and psychiatric populations. She counsels across the age spectrum working with children, teens, adults, and seniors. Dr. Kukla has extensive experience in treating a wide range of psychological difficulties such as mood disorders, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention problems, grief, divorce, relationship issues, life transitions, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and sexual and physical violence.

In addition, she possesses specialty training in providing therapy services to individuals with health-related conditions and medical illnesses. She also helps families cope and adjust to the challenges facing them when a loved one is diagnosed with a chronic medical issue. Some of the medical conditions that Dr. Kukla frequently works with are chronic pain, cancer, Type I and II diabetes, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, neurological conditions (e.g., multiple sclerosis & Parkinson’s disease), post-concussion care/mild traumatic brain injury, non-epileptic seizures, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome¸ myofascial pain, temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. Additionally, she has practice specialties in women’s health psychology providing therapy services to women experiencing infertility, pregnancy loss, chronic pelvic pain, and perinatal or postpartum depression and anxiety. Furthermore, she has specialized training in neuropsychological and psychological assessment.

Although Dr. Kukla has a breath of outpatient experience she has also worked in a number of other clinical settings.  She spent several years as a supervisor of a psychiatric emergency department in a behavioral health hospital providing crisis management services.  Dr. Kukla also enjoyed being a faculty member at Roosevelt University teaching undergraduate courses in General Psychology and Coping with Stress for a number of years.  Her teaching allowed her to share her passion for psychology with a much larger audience.  Dr. Kukla still enjoys presenting on a range of topics like stress management and facilitating behavior change.

Dr. Kukla provides a positive, empathetic and nurturing environment for her clients to feel safe in sharing their life’s narrative.  Through this exploration clients learn to utilize new skills and tools to help them stretch beyond their comfort zone to achieve maximum personal growth.  She uses a blend of therapies such as cognitive behavioral methods and acceptance techniques to focus on reducing symptoms and promoting recovery.  She uses research based strategies to build personal strength, resilience and wellness.  She focuses on empowering individuals to be active participants in their own medical and mental health care.  She strongly believes that therapy can improve the quality of anyone’s life even in the most challenging circumstances.

She practices collaborative care by working closely with primary care physicians, pediatricians, psychiatrists, and school social workers to provide comprehensive and holistic care.  Dr. Kukla’s trauma expertise has allowed her to become a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional from International Association of Trauma Professionals and a Certified Traumatic Stress Consultant from the Institute for Traumatic Stress.  Dr. Kukla is a member of the National Register of Health Service Psychologists, and the American Psychological Association’s Rehabilitation Psychology, Health Psychology, and Clinical Neuropsychology divisions.  She is also a proud partner of Give an Hour which is volunteer organization where mental health professionals donate one hour a week of free mental health services to our active and returning military personnel, veterans and their family members of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  Additionally, Dr. Kukla’s drive to help survivors of sexual trauma launched HLCC’s pioneering program Empower Hour to ensure survivors get access to quality care during their journey towards healing.  Due to this passion, Dr. Kukla is now the Vice President of the Board for PAVE (a national non-profit that fights to shatter the silence against sexual violence).  Dr. Kukla is also a Certified Clinical Telemental Health Provider ensuring best practices for your teletherapy.  See HLCC’s website for more information on the Empower Hour program.