Shirley Southard, LCMHC

Shirley Southard is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) with 20 years in human services. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, addictions, anger, depression, ADHD, relationship and family concerns, trauma and grief. Her approach is straightforward and supportive. Shirley focuses on listening first. She aims to make clients feel accepted and heard with no judgment. Sessions emphasize practical steps clients can take to change how they cope day to day. Her background includes work in mental health, developmental disability services, and substance abuse settings. She has supported medication management and worked with active military members and their families. Shirley also lists experience with divorce, single parenting, women’s issues, and mood disorders. In session she blends Client-Centered ideas with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. She uses psychoeducation and mindfulness tools to help clients learn new skills. Dialectical Behavior Therapy strategies are also part of her toolkit for emotion and impulse regulation. Shirley describes her role as helping people explore changes that let them look forward to the future. She often helps clients try out small experiments between sessions. The goal is to build skills that ease daily life and improve relationships. She works from North Carolina and communicates in English. Shirley has a Master’s degree in counseling and holds the LCMHC credential.

How Shirley Uses Talk Therapy and Skills Work Online

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on creating a listening, accepting space where the client guides the conversation and goals. It helps people feel understood and gradually try new ways of coping. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, behaviors, and mood and teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, and many everyday problems. Motivational Interviewing helps people find their own reasons to change and supports steps toward recovery from addictions or other challenges.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Shirley collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit best for their needs, goals, and comfort level. That may mean starting with supportive listening and then adding CBT tools or motivational techniques as goals become clearer.

Confirm which session formats Shirley currently offers before booking, as this profile does not list specific delivery methods. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. It also lets people use mindfulness exercises and CBT homework in real time between meetings. Licensed professionals can adapt these approaches to help clients build skills and make steady progress.