Shirley Williams , LCSW, CSW

Shirley Williams is a Colorado-based licensed social worker with 35 years of clinical experience. She holds an MSW and a BA in Psychology from Wayne State University and practices with both an LCSW and a CSW credential - LCSW meaning Licensed Clinical Social Worker and CSW meaning Certified Social Worker. Her training began early with a two-year intensive family therapy program at the Ann Arbor Center for the Family during a pivotal time for family systems work, and she has pursued many advanced trainings since then.

Throughout her career Shirley has worked across settings that include health care, hospice, schools, foster care and adoption services, pregnancy services, and support for people with disabilities and their caregivers, including animal caregivers. In 2000 she completed a 1000-hour massage therapy program at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy and went on to become nationally certified in massage and bodywork and licensed in Colorado, a background that informs her somatic, trauma-sensitive approach to therapy.

As an EMDR-trained clinician Shirley integrates techniques such as the Flash Technique alongside expressive arts tools like sound, dance and movement, and clay work when appropriate, offering these options in both virtual and in-person sessions. She combines somatic awareness, narrative exploration, and trauma-focused methods to help clients address relationship, grief, trauma, anxiety, and a broad range of life challenges, and she brings a lifelong curiosity and commitment to continued learning to each therapeutic relationship.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care

Shirley Williams draws on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Narrative Therapy, and trauma-focused methods to support healing and change. EMDR is a structured approach that helps people process traumatic memories and reduce the intensity of troubling reactions by using guided bilateral stimulation alongside focused recall. Narrative Therapy helps clients separate themselves from their problems by exploring the stories they tell about their lives and identifying alternative, more empowering narratives. Trauma-Focused Therapy centers on understanding the effects of traumatic experiences and developing coping strategies to manage symptoms and rebuild a sense of safety and agency.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Shirley partners with each person to assess needs, goals, and preferences and to adapt techniques as the work evolves so that therapy feels person-centered and responsive.

Online sessions offer practical flexibility - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging all make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to maintain continuity of care across different circumstances. These options allow licensed professionals to deliver consistent, ongoing support while meeting clients where they are.