About David
David Shellenbarger is a licensed professional counselor with 35 years of experience in Michigan. He focuses on helping people who are dealing with anxiety, stress, depression, grief, relationship problems, and low self-esteem. David uses straightforward, practical methods to help people manage strong emotions and everyday pressures.
He has spent much of his career in school settings and has worked with a wide age range. That background informs his approach to communication, social challenges, and coping skills.
Background and approach
He helps people build better ways to handle panic attacks, social anxiety, and workplace strain. Sessions emphasize clear communication and hands-on strategies. David draws on client-centered work, reality-oriented techniques, and rational-emotive methods to address thinking patterns and daily habits.
The focus is on small, manageable changes people can try between sessions. Many clients come for help with caregiver stress, isolation, life purpose, or major life transitions such as divorce and separation. He also supports people processing guilt, shame, or trauma-related symptoms like post-traumatic stress.
Therapy sessions aim to strengthen problem-solving and increase emotional resilience. David encourages exploring values and priorities, while teaching coping tools for panic, social fears, and workplace challenges. His style is calm, direct, and goal-focused to help people move forward steadily.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Evidence-based techniques are used in straightforward ways online. Client-centered work focuses on understanding each person’s goals and values and building conversations around what matters most. This helps with issues like life purpose, isolation, and relationship communication.Reality-oriented methods emphasize practical problem solving and real-world behavior changes. Online sessions can set small experiments to try between meetings, such as communication exercises or brief exposure tasks for social anxiety or panic symptoms.
Rational-emotive methods address unhelpful thinking by identifying and testing beliefs that fuel anxiety or shame. In virtual sessions, this often involves collaborative worksheets, thought records, and rehearsing alternative responses during video or chat exchanges.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to match methods to their needs, goals, and comfort level, and make adjustments as therapy progresses.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls let people work face-to-face from different locations. Phone sessions can be a simpler option when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging make shorter, ongoing contact possible between scheduled sessions. These options help fit therapy into busy lives and varied schedules.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English
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