I’m Michele Montenegro, LCSW and founder of arKardia Counseling & Consulting.

For more than twenty-five years, I’ve walked alongside individuals and couples seeking depth, clarity, and lasting change. My clinical work has been shaped by hospital, university, nonprofit, and private practice settings, including Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.

My work centers on what is underneath the symptoms and patterns that won’t seem to shift. Together, we trace how your history, relationships, nervous system, faith story, and current pressures intersect, so we’re not just managing what hurts, but understanding why it’s there and how it’s been trying to protect you.

I specialize in layered trauma and intensive work, integrating EMDR, Brainspotting, and attachment-based approaches within my signature framework. This framework is designed to move beyond insight alone and support change where it actually takes hold: in the nervous system, the body, and the heart.

In the therapy room, I bring a calm, grounded presence. I am attentive without being intrusive. Direct without being harsh. Steady when emotions run high. In couples work, my role is not to take sides, but to protect the health of the relationship and the integrity of each person’s story.