Dr. Michelle Leybman is a clinical psychologist in Toronto and is the first Connecte collaborator outside of Montreal. She is a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario. Michelle completed her PhD at McGill, where she focused her training on working with people with eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and borderline personality disorder. She has also trained to work with more general concerns, like low self-esteem, relationship issues, and identity issues. She has expertise in several therapies, including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, and mindfulness-based therapies. She believes all these therapies, and others, can be useful and enjoys integrating them. She currently works at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and is grateful that her job allows her to focus on so many areas of psychology including supervision, teaching, research, and of course therapy.  

Michelle genuinely loves psychology. Whether at work, or in her personal life, she is often reading or talking about personality, emotion, and motivation. She even carries values cards around in her purse, just in case there’s an emergency where someone needs to figure out how to give their life a bit more meaning while she’s out. She is particularly interested in helping people to have compassion for themselves, and in helping people feel empowered to pursue things that are important to them. She is also enthusiastic about creating prevention programs that teach kids and teens healthy body image, and general emotional wellness.  

Outside of work, Michelle is very social and loves spending time with friends. She’s up for trying anything at least once, but some things she always comes back to are enjoying great food, whiskey, and wine, playing board games, and being outdoors, whether it’s cycling, hiking, or just sitting in a park. When she’s unwinding, it’s usually by reading, listening to music, or watching Netflix.