About Shawna
Shawna Chandler is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people manage anxiety, stress, relationship struggles, trauma, and low self-esteem. She writes simply and listens closely so people can talk about hard things without feeling judged. Shawna uses practical tools and steady support to help people take small steps toward clearer thinking and better daily routines.
With two decades of experience, Shawna blends several approaches to meet each person's needs.
Background and approach
She draws on cognitive behavioral methods to pinpoint unhelpful thinking and develop new skills. Mindfulness and acceptance ideas are used to help people notice what matters and act with intention rather than reacting on autopilot. Shawna also works with emotion regulation and distress tolerance techniques from dialectical behavior approaches.
For clients with past trauma, she may use eye movement desensitization and reprocessing as one option to reduce the hold of traumatic memories. Throughout, she keeps the work focused on real life tasks and attainable goals. Her practice emphasizes practical change alongside emotional understanding.
Sessions are aimed at building coping skills, improving communication, and increasing confidence. Shawna supports people through transitions such as separation, caregiving stress, and complicated family dynamics. Shawna practices in California and speaks English.
She frames therapy as a collaborative process and helps people set clear goals they can measure over time.
How therapy approaches translate online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify values and take small committed actions even when anxiety or tough feelings appear. Online ACT sessions often focus on simple exercises and real-life experiments to try between meetings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at thoughts and behaviors and teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful patterns; in online sessions this can mean structured worksheets, activity plans, and short practice assignments to track progress.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, then try methods together and adjust based on how they land for the client. This collaborative process helps shape a plan that fits day-to-day life and personal priorities.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for in-depth conversations and visual cues, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can offer quick check-ins, and text messaging supports brief updates or coaching between sessions. These options offer flexibility for people juggling work, caregiving, or other commitments and make it easier to keep momentum between appointments.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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