Shana Williams-Leary, LCSW

Shana Williams-Leary is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 24 years of clinical experience working in both inpatient crisis settings and outpatient counseling. She has provided care to individuals, couples, and families ranging from age 4 to 85 across Florida, Utah, Maine, Arizona, and several other countries. Her practice emphasizes beginning where each person is and then tailoring interventions to match that starting point and evolving needs.

Her primary specialty is working with PTSD, including abuse and both primary and secondary traumas. She is a Certified TIST therapist and has advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, including the Flash Technique. She has substantial experience supporting people with chronic mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dissociative issues, and depression, as well as those navigating major life transitions, expatriate adjustment, high sensitivity, and developmental delays.

Shana has also worked with individuals in up to middle stage dementia and supported their caregivers and family members through adjustment and caregiving challenges. She is most comfortable doing individual work with adults age 18 and older. Her approach is eclectic and grounded in warmth, acceptance, and trust-building, while remaining capable of focused, solution-oriented work when brief intervention is appropriate.

She uses Motivational Interviewing to clarify what a person truly wants and to identify barriers to change, then shifts toward strengths-based skill building and cognitive-behavioral and humanistic methods, informed by family systems and developmental perspectives on relationships. Shana views therapeutic work as a privileged responsibility and aims to provide a respectful, compassionate space where people can be fully heard and supported on their path toward healing and growth.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care

Shana integrates several proven approaches into her online work to meet different needs. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on understanding relational patterns formed early in life and how they affect current relationships - it can be helpful for people struggling with intimacy, abandonment fears, or family history issues. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) offers structured techniques to identify and shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, making it useful for anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-informed trauma approach that helps process distressing memories and reduce their emotional intensity; it is often used for PTSD and trauma-related symptoms.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Shana works collaboratively with each person to explore which methods fit their goals, preferences, and life circumstances, adjusting the plan as progress is made.

Online therapy with Shana is offered by video call, phone session, live chat, or text-based messaging to maximize flexibility. These options allow people to access licensed professionals from different locations, fit sessions into busy schedules, and continue work through life transitions or while living abroad, all while maintaining a consistent therapeutic relationship.