Shana Williams-Leary, LCSW

Shana Williams-Leary is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who has worked over the course of 23 years across inpatient crisis and outpatient counseling settings with individuals, couples, and families. She has provided services to people aged 4 to 85 in Florida, Utah, Maine, Arizona, and several other countries. As an LCSW she holds a clinical social work license to provide mental health assessment and treatment. She is versatile in her methods and typically begins therapy by meeting clients where they are, then tailoring interventions to fit each person’s needs.

Her clinical specialty is working with PTSD and abuse-related trauma, including primary and secondary traumas. She is a Certified TIST therapist - Trauma-informed Stabilization and Treatment - and has advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), including the Flash Technique. She has substantial experience with chronically mentally ill individuals, including people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dissociative issues, and depression, as well as those navigating major life transitions, expatriate adjustment, high sensitivity, and developmental delays. She has also supported some individuals and caregivers facing middle-stage dementia and the adjustment challenges that can follow medication changes. For individual sessions she is most comfortable working with adults 18 and older.

Her counseling style is eclectic and warm, grounded in acceptance, positive regard, and trust-building, yet adaptable to brief, solution-focused work when appropriate. She uses Motivational Interviewing to clarify a person’s desires and barriers, then shifts to strengths-based and skill-building strategies that draw on cognitive-behavioral and humanistic techniques with a family systems and developmental perspective. She views therapeutic work as a courageous, transformative process and approaches it as a privileged, meaningful responsibility. Working with Shana is framed as a collaborative journey guided by the client’s goals and pace.