https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/home daily 1.0 2022-05-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/ba9bdaad-cab0-441e-8455-a97063261270/Shannon+pic.jpg Home - My Approach. Anchored in a strong belief in human resilience, I meet each client where they are, guiding clients to connect with their own courage, insight, and wisdom. I am a trauma-informed counselor and trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I help clients to understand how their life experiences have impacted them while empowering them to envision and create a new future. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1640720569815-OUFHO4G136WZF2HGAO2B/unsplash-image-XNb5Jtx2Yl8.jpg Home - Connecting with Inner Wisdom . I believe that as humans we all have a “core self” that is courageous, compassionate, and present. We also have lots of other parts of ourselves - all of our parts may not always agree! In therapy, we begin with a valuing of all of our parts, while working towards greater inner harmony, spaciousness, and alignment with our core values and needs. You are the expert in yourself, and I see myself as a guide to connect you with your own inner wisdom. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1640720652729-MJM7DNI3GEZ233T0LS9V/unsplash-image-Z5qD8T3wVvk.jpg Home - Transforming at the root. In contrast to some therapies that focus on identifying and challenging unhealthy thought patterns, EMDR focuses on discovering when symptoms and negative beliefs about self first developed, and working to heal and transform at the root. Whether traumatic experiences were recent or in the distant past, I will honor their impact on your life as we work to gain more freedom and choice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1641142540831-YA25EDMRW37M8GX6BV7W/unsplash-image-B6gUV8kgwXw.jpg Home - YOU are not the problem. Many clients come to therapy wanting to “fix” themselves. They have been told by others that they need help, because somehow they are failing. While I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of behavioral change and self-reflection, I resist seeing clients as “broken.” After all, you had the strength to make it to this day! Being a human is hard - we’re all “beautiful messes” at times. I focus often on self-compassion, showing ourselves grace, and owning our pain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1641142472438-Z4YIF9A611ST0GI358ZA/unsplash-image-b9kh72kOcdM.jpg Home - Creating Safe Space . As an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist (and part of the queer community myself), I understand the importance of “safe space.” All of your identities are valid and valuable, whether fixed or fluid, chosen or innate. I strive to always be curious and compassionate towards your lived experience and intersectionality, knowing that “mental disorder” is often the label put on attempts to cope with oppression, discrimination, trauma or internalized shame. https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/learn-more daily 0.75 2021-12-28 https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/about daily 0.75 2025-12-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1640725079848-ULJICDKA2J8ZBLQH3VL4/unsplash-image-hluOJZjLVXc.jpg About - Interests and Specialties Some of the areas that I specialize in include: Trauma (adult, childhood/attachment, generational and cultural) Life transitions (e.g. divorce, break-up, move, career change, parenthood) Shame and guilt Anxiety and hypervigilance Depression Perfectionism Low self-esteem and self-doubt LGBTQ+ issues Women’s issues Spiritual issues and religious trauma Sexual assault Victims of domestic violence or narcissistic abuse Relational issues (communication, boundaries) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/30a21199-a653-4089-87f3-a0b6e9e75d1f/Office+1.jpg About - My Experience and Training I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida, with M. Ed. and Ed. S degrees in Counseling from the University of Florida (2013). Prior to becoming licensed as an LMHC, I worked for 6 years as a School Counselor in a local public Title I elementary school and a private middle school, and have extensive experience working with children, teens, and families as both a counselor and teacher. I was lucky to receive training in EMDR early on in my internship period, and have utilized it significantly over the past several years, receiving consultation and advanced training. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1640805479819-B3A6CBCQ6D7RRB761DQU/unsplash-image-PL0dlsf2D-0.jpg About - Populations Served I am currently accepting as clients: Pre-teens and teens (age 11+) Adults *I am not currently seeing families or couples but would be happy to provide a referral. https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/emdr daily 0.75 2022-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1652279118278-NTD606WAVQV2014QLOBN/unsplash-image-RJla0P7GNiY.jpg What is EMDR? - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that helps people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. These life experiences could be recent or in the distant past, but due to their traumatic impact they remain “frozen in time;” essentially, the internal system interprets the past as being in the present. People have described this as finding themselves reacting in ways that feel confusing or out of proportion to a situation, feeling “triggered,” or having deeply felt negative beliefs (such as “I’m not good enough,” “I’m abandoned,” or “I’m unsafe”) that their adult minds can recognize as untrue, but nevertheless feel stuck at a somatic level. Through EMDR therapy, clients access traumatic memories and memory networks and reprocess them, activating the mind’s natural healing system. It’s as if the memory is moved from one mental filing cabinet to another - from “this is happening to me now” to “this is something that happened to me.” Rather than pairing the life experience with a negative belief about themselves, clients are able to fully internalize a positive, or adaptive, belief about themselves in relation to the memory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1652115250919-QDRYLMGBSVR0WI7HTC11/unsplash-image-P-JX1Agg0Ts.jpg What is EMDR? - What Qualifies as a “Trauma”? Many clients initially deny that they have had “traumatic” experiences - after all, aren’t there others who have “had it worse?” As a society, we tend to minimize some traumatic experiences while validating others. From the perspective of EMDR, a trauma is anything that happened in the past that is still limiting, diminishing or otherwise stunting your growth in the present. There is no litmus test, and there are no “silly” or “insignificant” disturbing life experiences - if it impacts you in a negative way, then it is important and we can address it with EMDR. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618497259178-6XJGK9GR6YAVBQL5L519/20140301_Trade-151_012-2.jpg What is EMDR? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1607694583486-2PQT0LQ193RL7MCB6DX4/20140228_Trade+151_0046.jpg What is EMDR? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1607694644871-IC85FNH781UNZSZEGHDR/Aro+Ha_0428.jpg What is EMDR? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847767761-J2M1HI20BXRQ9XCR0HUD/Large+JPG-Aro+Ha_0387.jpg What is EMDR? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61ba54e4fc5da815de4b3832/1652277697951-3S3Y9O8FY0SE4YBUGJOA/unsplash-image-betmVWGYcLY.jpg What is EMDR? https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/faqs-4 daily 0.75 2022-05-29 https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/get-started daily 0.75 2021-12-28 https://www.shannonwrightcounseling.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-05-29