Shirley Williams, LCSW, CSW
Compassionate guide for trauma and life changes
Details
| Name | Shirley Williams |
|---|---|
| Credentials | LCSW, CSW |
| Based in | Colorado |
| Licensed in | Colorado |
| Session format | Online |
| Languages | English |
| Years in practice | 35 |
About Shirley
Shirley Williams is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing trauma, relationship troubles, grief, anxiety, attention challenges, and life transitions. She brings a calm, curious presence and practical steps to sessions. Shirley works from Colorado and draws on long experience to guide people through difficult moments.
Shirley trained in social work at Wayne State University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Social Work.
Background and approach
She has practiced for 35 years in settings such as health care, hospice, schools, foster care and adoption, and pregnancy services. That breadth shapes how she sees problems and solutions. Her background includes a two-year intensive family therapy program during the early spread of family systems ideas.
She also completed a 1,000-hour massage therapy program and held national certification and a Colorado license in massage and bodywork. Those skills inform a somatic perspective she uses alongside talk therapy. Shirley uses Narrative Therapy to help people reframe their stories and Trauma-Focused Therapy and EMDR for trauma-related work.
She also adapts creative tools - sound, movement, clay, and expressive art - when helpful during sessions. These tools are offered as choices, not requirements. Sessions tend to focus on clear goals, paced processing of difficult memories, and building daily coping skills.
Shirley emphasizes collaboration: she and the person in therapy pick strategies that make sense for that person’s life. She invites questions and small experiments between sessions to test what helps.
What this therapist works with
Her listing names Relationship issues, Family conflicts, Trauma and abuse among the things Shirley works with, alongside the areas below.
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Grief
- ADHD
- Stress, Anxiety
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Divorce and separation
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches listed
- Narrative Therapy: Named in her listing among her approaches.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Listed by Shirley among the ways she works.
- Trauma-Focused Therapy: Listed by Shirley among the ways she works.
- Training stated: This directory copies the approaches a therapist names and does not check training records. Ask Shirley directly how much of the work is narrative and what a session usually looks like.
Narrative Therapy in this listing
Narrative Therapy appears in this therapist's own list of approaches. That tells you it is part of how she works. It does not tell you how much of a session it shapes, and this directory does not check or rate training.
If a narrative approach is what you are looking for, it is worth asking Shirley directly how she uses it and what a session usually looks like.
Online session options
How Narrative and Trauma Work Translate Online
Shirley uses Narrative Therapy to help people tell and reshape the stories they carry. That work often involves noticing patterns, naming unhelpful storylines, and testing new ways of seeing everyday problems. It can be useful for relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, life purpose questions, and grief.She also integrates Trauma-Focused Therapy and EMDR for people coping with intense traumatic memories. Trauma-Focused Therapy focuses on slowing the process and building coping skills before processing hard material. EMDR involves guided bilateral stimulation alongside memory work to reduce the pain linked to specific traumatic events. These approaches are chosen collaboratively based on each person’s needs and comfort level.
Finding the right mix of methods is part of the process. Shirley partners with clients to pick approaches that match their goals, pace, and preferences. She often introduces small exercises or creative tools - like movement, sound, or clay work - to try between or during sessions and adjusts based on what helps.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and messaging or live chat suits brief check-ins or busy schedules. These options make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into work, caregiving, or other commitments.
Common questions about this listing
What kinds of problems does Shirley help with?
She works with relationship issues, trauma and abuse, grief, anxiety, depression, ADHD, stress, parenting concerns, eating and sleeping problems, and life transitions.
What is her general therapeutic style?
Shirley uses a narrative approach together with trauma-focused methods and somatic tools. She values a curious, collaborative tone and practical steps you can try between sessions.
How long has she been practicing?
She brings 35 years of clinical experience working in hospice, schools, foster care and adoption, health care, and pregnancy services.
What credentials does she hold and where is she located?
She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and also holds CSW, practicing from Colorado.
Can sessions be conducted in other languages or internationally?
Sessions are offered in English. She is not currently accepting international clients.
What session formats are available?
Shirley offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to suit different needs and schedules.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to the therapist's availability.
Contacting this therapist
Sessions with Shirley are arranged through our partner platform. It asks a few questions about what you are looking for, then shows you the therapists available to you, including Shirley where she has space. Ask about fees, and whether she holds a licence or registration where you live.
Or see other therapists in Colorado »
This is a partner link. We will earn a commission if you sign up through it, at no cost to you. It does not change what you pay or the order of the listings.
Other listings in Colorado
- Kelley Sullivan, LCSW - Colorado
- Charlie Eliza Boutillette, LPC - Colorado
- Dana Krumholz, LPC - Colorado
- Dr. Wanetta "Nita" Hughes Bise, LPC - Colorado
- All therapists for relationship »