Shirley Williams

Shirley Williams, LCSW, CSW, helps people facing anger, trauma, relationship strain, grief, and stress. She brings a calm, straightforward style and 35 years of practice in mental health. Shirley combines talk-based work with body-centered and creative tools to help people manage strong feelings and move forward.

She trained in psychology and social work at Wayne State University and completed an intensive family therapy program early in her career. That foundation led to work across settings including healthcare, hospice, schools, foster care and adoption, and pregnancy services. Over time she added a 1,000-hour massage therapy diploma and state licensure, which shaped a somatic perspective on emotional healing.

Shirley uses trauma-focused approaches such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Narrative Therapy, and Trauma-Focused Therapy. She also introduces expressive methods like sound, movement, clay work, and elements of The Flash Technique when appropriate. Sessions mix conversation with body-aware practices and creative exercises.

Her experience includes helping people with ADHD, sleep and eating concerns, intimacy and attachment issues, caregiver stress, chronic illness and pain, and grief near the end of life. She also supports work-related compassion fatigue, self-esteem, career questions, and life transitions.

People who choose Shirley usually want practical tools plus space to process hard experiences. Her approach is curious, adaptable, and grounded in long-term clinical experience.

How trauma-focused and somatic methods translate online

Shirley uses EMDR, Narrative Therapy, and trauma-focused approaches to help people process difficult memories and strong emotions. EMDR uses guided bilateral stimulation alongside recall of troubling memories to reduce their emotional charge, often used for post-traumatic stress and trauma symptoms. Narrative Therapy helps people tell and reframe their life stories so that painful events no longer define them. Trauma-Focused Therapy concentrates on stabilizing symptoms, building coping skills, and processing traumatic events in a paced way.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Shirley works with each person to decide which methods feel most helpful, based on needs, goals, and preferences. She adapts techniques over time when something isn’t working and introduces body-centered or creative tools when they support the work.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the specific session options before booking since formats are not listed in the biography. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, avoid travel time, or keep appointments during times of illness or limited mobility. They also allow therapeutic methods to continue even when in-person meetings aren’t practical, while Shirley and the client decide how to use somatic or expressive exercises within those sessions.