About Shirley
Shirley Cayko is a licensed clinical social worker with 18 years of experience in Montana. She focuses on helping people manage stress and anxiety and navigate the impact of trauma and abuse. Shirley works to build a respectful, compassionate space where people can begin to feel understood.
She emphasizes clear, practical conversation. Sessions focus on what is happening now and what can be done next. Shirley tailors discussions and plans to each persons situation and strengths rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
Background and approach
Her work addresses self-esteem, motivation, and confidence alongside coping with life changes. She also supports people facing grief, anger, depression, and bipolar mood challenges. Shirley accepts questions about sexual and gender identity and provides informed, nonjudgmental care around LGBT and gender dysphoria concerns.
Shirley brings experience with many related stressors such as chronic illness, caregiver strain, end-of-life concerns, divorce and separation, immigration issues, and cancer. She also helps people who struggle with communication problems, dissociation, avoidant personality traits, and feelings of emptiness or guilt.
In sessions she uses approaches that fit the persons goals, including client-centered conversation, cognitive tools to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, mindfulness practices, and skills from dialectical behavior therapy. Shirley aims to help people find workable strategies for day-to-day life and clearer ways to cope when things feel overwhelming.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and reflecting what matters to the person. It helps people feel heard and guides the conversation toward their goals. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical exercises to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress. Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, adds skills for managing intense emotions, improving interpersonal effectiveness, and tolerating distress.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Shirley will collaborate with each person to figure out which methods fit their situation and goals. She adjusts tools and pacing based on feedback so therapy stays useful and relevant.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to work together. Video calls let a person have a fuller conversational session. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or camera use is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging support shorter check-ins, skill practice between sessions, and people who prefer typed conversation. These options make it simpler to schedule regular sessions and keep momentum while fitting therapy into a busy life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Montana
- Languages
- English
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