About Shirley
Shirley Williams is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship strain, and ADHD-related challenges. She brings 35 years of experience and a calm, practical approach to sessions. People meet her for help with sleep, eating concerns, parenting strain, career stress, and self-esteem issues.
Shirley trained in social work with a Master of Social Work and has worked across health care, hospice, schools, foster care and adoption, and pregnancy services in Colorado and beyond.
Background and approach
She also completed extensive training in family therapy early in her career and kept learning through many later trainings. Her practice blends talk-based and body-aware methods. She pairs trauma-focused therapy and narrative methods with somatic work influenced by massage and movement.
That means she might use breathing, movement, or sound alongside conversation to help people process difficult memories and reactions. Shirley uses Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, often called EMDR, as one tool for trauma-related concerns. She also brings expressive methods such as clay work, dance and movement, and sound practices into sessions when they fit a person's needs and preferences.
Sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules. She aims for clear, manageable steps so people can test changes between meetings. Shirley says curiosity guides her work, and she focuses on practical ways to lessen distress and build more stable daily routines.
How EMDR, Narrative, and Trauma-Focused Work Translate Online
EMDR is a trauma-oriented approach that uses guided eye movements or other bilateral stimulation to help people process distressing memories and reduce their emotional charge. It is often used for post-traumatic stress and intense traumatic reactions.Narrative therapy helps people reframe and tell their life stories in ways that highlight strengths and new possibilities. It can be useful for relationship patterns, identity concerns, grief, and problems that feel stuck in repetitive stories.
Trauma-focused therapy concentrates on understanding how past events shape present reactions and building concrete skills to manage triggers and overwhelm. It often includes pacing, grounding, and step-by-step work to reduce distress and increase daily functioning.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Shirley will talk with the person about goals, symptoms, and preferences and then suggest a mix of methods that fit. That decision is collaborative and can change as progress is made.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let therapists observe expressions and body language. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is low or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging support brief check-ins, coaching, or ongoing reflection between sessions. These formats make it simpler to fit therapy into busy lives and maintain regular contact with a licensed professional.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Stress, Anxiety
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- Colorado
- Languages
- English
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