I’m Micheline Maalouf, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and the founder of Serein Counseling, a trauma-focused counseling practice based in Orlando, Florida. I specialize in helping people heal from trauma, anxiety, and identity-related stress, especially those who feel caught between worlds, including children of immigrants and clients navigating diaspora, cultural pressure, and generational patterns.

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As a Syrian/Lebanese immigrant who moved to Florida at age 8, I experienced firsthand the emotional impact of displacement: loneliness, anxiety, grief, and the quiet loss of identity that can happen when your world shifts overnight. Moving to a new country, language, and culture shaped how I understand the nervous system, belonging, and the deep ache of not feeling fully seen. That lived experience is what led me to mental health therapy and education, and it continues to inform how I hold space for my clients today.

My mission is to support people navigating the emotional complexity of trauma and the layered realities of cultural identity. Many of my clients struggle with over-responsibility, chronic anxiety, people-pleasing, emotional intensity, boundaries that feel impossible, or a persistent sense of not knowing who they are outside of expectations. I work with clients who want to feel grounded in themselves, build healthier relationships, and reconnect with their voice, body, and values.

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I’m trained in EMDR and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and I’m a Certified Trauma Specialist. I also integrate somatic therapy and body-based tools to support nervous system regulation, emotional processing, and long-term healing. My work is collaborative, practical, and culturally responsive. I consider each person’s cultural background, family system, and ancestral history as essential parts of the therapeutic process, not side notes.

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At Serein Counseling, I use evidence-based methods to help clients:

• process trauma and reduce distressing symptoms

• feel safer in their bodies through nervous system support and somatic tools

• build boundaries without shame or guilt

• heal attachment wounds and relational patterns

• navigate identity confusion, cultural grief, and the “in-between” experience

• create a meaningful life aligned with their values (not just survival)

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I’m also deeply committed to breaking mental health stigma, especially within immigrant and culturally diverse communities. Therapy can be a place where you don’t have to translate yourself, minimize your pain, or carry everything alone. My goal is to help you reclaim your sense of self, purpose, and wellbeing, with care that honors where you come from and who you’re becoming.

Outside of therapy, I love languages and speak English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, and a little Portuguese. In my free time, you’ll find me Middle Eastern dancing, traveling, and scouting for new places to eat.