Michelle Granden, PhD, LMHCA

she/her · Ph.D. in Psychology · Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, Washington

The long way here

My interest in psychology began in high school, with the existential and humanistic psychology books my mom brought home from work, books tackling whopping themes like existence, meaning, and the universals and varieties of human experience. As a curious kid turned broody teenager burning with big ideas, I was enthralled.

I went off to college as a psychology major and discovered, to my disappointment, that undergraduate psychology wasn't asking the deep questions I'd come for. So I moved to the only department on campus that was asking the big and eternal ones: philosophy. I found my way back to psychology in graduate school, through programs with a holistic, philosophically grounded approach, first a master's, then a doctorate.

Why I do this work

I became a therapist because the work matched who I already was. What a therapist does—reveres and fosters relationships, delves below the surface of social scripts and public niceties, explores life's biggest questions, and sees the extraordinariness of ordinary people—described my proclivities and my experience of everyday life long before it described my profession. I felt called to this work by my talents and my interests, and every year of practice has confirmed it.

My commitment deepened in a more personal way, too. During my doctoral years, my husband and I went through infertility and loss, and my own experience of therapy through that season taught me something no degree could: what it means to not know, to come undone, and to be held through it rather than fixed. I bring that knowledge into the room with every client.

Credentials & background

  • Ph.D. in Psychology — University of West Georgia

  • M.Psy. in Psychology (Clinical Training) — University of Dallas

  • B.A. in Philosophy — Southwestern University

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, Washington State — MC61193958

  • Member: Society for Humanistic Psychology (APA Div. 32) · Washington Mental Health Counselors Association · Association for Humanistic Psychology

Beyond the therapy room

Outside of clinical work, I love reading all things nonfiction, from postmodern philosophy and animal ethics to true crime and popular science. The rest of life is gardening, cooking, traveling, hiking, thrifting, watching horror movies, and spending time with my husband, our twins, and our rescue dog, Roxy. I also enjoy cross-stitching, something my grandmother first taught me as a kid.

Scholarship & media

My scholarly work, much of it on how humans understand and relate to animals, occasionally takes me into public conversation. It's a different room than the therapy office, but the same habits of mind: close attention, curiosity, and a willingness to sit with hard questions.

Media Invited expert contributor, What the Duck?!, ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

Writing & scholarly service

  • Granden, M. (2023). Rogue elephants in the news: A cultural-discursive study. The Humanistic Psychologist, 51(2), 197-206. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-78175-001

  • Ad hoc reviewer, The Humanistic Psychologist (American Psychological Association), 2020–present.

Teaching & fellowships

  • Instructor of Record, Department of Psychology, University of West Georgia (2011-2012).

  • Invited Fellow, Human-Animal Studies Summer Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2017).