About Shirley
Shirley Marks is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 44 years of experience. She helps people facing anxiety, stress, and life changes. She also supports those coping with addictions, relationship and family concerns, and questions about identity and self worth.
She keeps sessions straightforward and focused. Shirley listens first, then works with each person to identify practical steps. Conversations cover how thoughts, choices, and behaviors affect daily life and relationships.
Background and approach
She helps people build small routines and new habits that reduce overwhelm. Shirley has a long career working in Tennessee. That background gives her familiarity with a wide range of concerns, from mood disorders like depression and bipolar to grief, trauma, and issues related to discrimination or multicultural stress.
She also addresses intimacy, communication problems, and process or substance addictions. Her approach is collaborative and paced to each person’s needs. She aims to create an open space where people can talk without judgment.
Sessions often focus on clear goals, coping skills, and steps a person can try between meetings. People who choose Shirley tend to want practical guidance and steady support. She can help figure out next steps for career stress, relationship challenges, eating or body image concerns, and managing strong emotions.
Her style suits those who want a direct but compassionate guide through difficult moments.
Approaches that guide online work and practical next steps
Shirley uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on practical change and emotional understanding. One approach involves identifying unhelpful thought patterns and trying new ways of thinking that reduce anxiety and low mood; this helps people break cycles of worry and reactivity. Another common method centers on building new routines and coping skills to manage cravings, stress, or intense emotions; this is useful for addictions, stress, and everyday coping.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Shirley treats therapy as a collaboration - she will talk with each person about goals, try different strategies, and adjust the plan based on what proves helpful. The aim is to find approaches that match the person’s needs and daily life.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face connection when schedules permit. Phone sessions can fit a short check-in or require less bandwidth. Live chat and text messaging can keep work moving between sessions with brief updates or exercises. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life while keeping focus on steady progress.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Antisocial personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Multicultural concerns
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Experience
- 44 years
- Licensed
- Tennessee
- Languages
- English
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