Michael moved to Seattle from New York City in January 2009, and met with the Antioch Art Therapy faculty before he even picked up his checked luggage. As a graduate student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, the magic of creative arts therapy was endowed upon him, and he wished nothing more than to share that wisdom and light with future magic makers. He began at Antioch University Seattle in January 2011 as an adjunct faculty member, and transitioned to core faculty in January 2013.

Michael grew up dancing, painting, and singing, a ball of whirling energy that longed to bounce across the galaxy. After arriving in New York City to pursue a career in entertainment, he quickly discovered that something was missing, and began his search for a career path that would ground his affinity for creative expression with his desire to make healing contact with people. Now, with more than 8 years of experience working in after-school arts and literacy programming with children and adolescents, inpatient hospitals with adults suffering from severe and persistent illness, and forensic community mental health programs, his spirit is buoyed by one persistent truth: we all just want to play, make things, and be seen. This truth fuels the fire for his work as a creative arts therapist, but is inseparable from his experience as a son, brother, friend, partner, or teacher.

Michael utilizes an interdisciplinary approach throughout the therapeutic journey to arrive at a place where person-centered, meaningful contact leads to nothing short of personal transformation, creative freedom, and a sense of wholeness, and has incorporated visual art, movement, film/video, poetry, music, and drama techniques with clients to effect change. While he has worked in various clinical settings, Michael finds that he is most drawn to integrating this work in places less traveled, and is currently developing a workshop series that utilizes art-making and play to explore the relationship between ancient gender archetypes and the modern man.

Michael considers himself equal parts basketball player, mountain hiker, music maker, body shaker, cake baker, and father to Kingsford Sebastian America III.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling

School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy