About Shelley
I’m a body-centered psychotherapist specializing in trauma, attachment, and the ways our experiences live within both the body and our relationships.
I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor Certified in Trauma Informed Stabilization Therapy (TIST) and Somatic Internal Family Systems (SIFS) with advanced training in trauma-informed, somatic, attachment-based, and parts-oriented approaches, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Polyvagal Theory, and attachment-focused work. I’m also trained as a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and Yoga Nidra practitioner.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked with teens, adults, and families across residential treatment, outpatient therapy, and community settings, including serving as Clinical Director of an integrative residential treatment program. I also love teaching and facilitating groups, workshops, and experiential retreats that invite deeper connection, integration, and healing.
My Approach
I believe healing is less about fixing what is wrong with us and more about developing a compassionate relationship with the parts of ourselves that learned how to survive.
Our experiences shape our beliefs, relationships, nervous systems, and bodies. Protective patterns that once helped us navigate difficult circumstances can continue long after those circumstances have passed. With curiosity and support, we can begin to understand these patterns—not as problems to eliminate, but as meaningful adaptations that have something to tell us.
My approach integrates parts work, attachment, nervous-system awareness, and embodied practices. Together, we pay attention not only to your story, but to what is happening in the present moment—in your body, emotions, thoughts, relationships, and internal world.
The Body as a Pathway to Healing
Our bodies are constantly communicating with us.
Sensation, breath, movement, emotion, and our five senses provide information about safety, connection, boundaries, and what we need. Yet many of us learned to disconnect from these signals, particularly when feeling them once seemed overwhelming or unsafe.
Body-centered psychotherapy invites us to gently reconnect.
Rather than pushing difficult feelings away or becoming consumed by them, we learn to notice what is happening with curiosity and compassion. As we develop a relationship with our bodies, emotions, thoughts, and inner parts, we create more room for choice—and for the wisdom that has been there all along.
I believe that capacity exists within each of us. Healing is the process of finding our way back to it.
Healing Happens in Relationship
We are wired for connection. Experiences of safety, trust, belonging, acceptance, and presence are fundamental human needs—and when these needs have been disrupted, relationship can become an important part of healing.
For this reason, the relationship between therapist and client matters deeply to me. I strive to create a space where you can experience being seen and understood while moving at a pace that honors your nervous system.
Over time, experiences of safety and connection within relationship can become resources you carry within yourself—supporting greater trust in your body, your relationships, and your own capacity to navigate life.
Education and Professional Trainings
Master of Science in Counseling
Western Carolina University | 2008
EMDR Training | 2010
Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Training | 2014
200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training (RYT 200)
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts | 2016
Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator
Brené Brown | 2016
Yoga Therapy Training
Amrit Yoga Institute / Southwest Institute of Healing Arts | 2018
Yoga Nidra Training
Amrit Yoga Institute / Southwest Institute of Healing Arts | 2018–2019
Dare to Lead™ Facilitator
Brené Brown | 2019
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Training | 2021
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) | 2022
Internal Family Systems (IFS) | 2022
Polyvagal Theory & Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) | 2022
Certified Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) Therapist
Janina Fisher | 2023
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy | 2023–Present
Certified Somatic IFS Practitioner
Susan McConnell | 2024
Outside of my work, I find my own sense of connection and renewal in the outdoors—hiking, backpacking, paddling, and spending time with the people I love.