About Shirley
Shirley Williams works with people who are dealing with trauma, relationship strain, grief, anxiety, parenting stress, and related concerns. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Colorado with 35 years of experience and uses both talk and body-centered methods to help people feel steadier. Shirley writes simply and listens closely so people can make practical changes that fit their lives.
She trained in social work at Wayne State University and completed intensive work in family therapy early in her career.
Background and approach
Shirley has worked in health care, hospice, schools, foster care and adoption services, and pregnancy support programs. Those roles shaped how she helps people manage major life transitions and caregiving challenges. Shirley combines trauma-informed approaches with somatic tools.
She integrates Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing with trauma-focused and narrative methods when appropriate. She also draws on massage and movement practices to help people reconnect with their bodies during healing. Her background includes a 1,000-hour massage therapy program and national certification in massage and bodywork, plus a variety of expressive arts techniques.
In sessions she may offer sound work, clay exercises, or dance and movement to supplement talk-based work when clients are open to those options. Shirley emphasizes collaboration and curiosity in her work. She helps people set clear goals, try practical strategies, and pace progress so healing feels manageable.
Sessions can be tailored to individual needs and preferences.
How Shirley’s Approaches Work Online
Shirley uses EMDR to help people process distressing memories by guiding focused attention while clients recall events; this can reduce the intensity of traumatic memories and their impact. Narrative Therapy invites people to tell their stories and separate themselves from problems, which helps reframe difficult experiences and build new meaning. Trauma-Focused Therapy targets symptoms of trauma and aims to slow things down so people can work through painful memories at a manageable pace without getting overwhelmed.Choosing the right method is a collaborative process. Shirley will talk with each person about goals, history, and preferences and then suggest approaches to try. She checks in regularly and adjusts methods based on how the person responds so the work stays practical and person-centered.
Online formats offer flexibility for different needs. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for guided EMDR or narrative work. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging provide ongoing support between sessions and let people share updates or ask quick questions without scheduling a full call. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives and to keep momentum between meetings.
Frequently asked questions
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How long has she been practicing and what shaped her experience?
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- 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