Patrick Shanahan

Patrick Shanahan is a licensed clinical social worker with 44 years of experience. He helps people facing relationship strain, grief, anxiety, depression, addiction, and the stress of big life changes. He also supports those coping with natural or human-caused disaster and the ripple effects that follow.

He believes people are generally self-correcting and can move forward once they get unstuck. He pays attention to a person’s values to help find direction and practical solutions. Sessions focus on clear problem solving and building skills that fit each person’s life.

Early in his career he started and ran an outpatient clinic attached to a runaway and homeless youth shelter. For 18 years he provided case management, individual therapy, and family work both at the shelter and in the community. He also trained and supervised staff and graduate students during that period.

He later worked with a university on research to improve therapeutic approaches and completed 29 hours toward a Ph.D. in family therapy. He spent time providing professional Christian therapy in an outpatient group practice and then 18 years in managed care doing phone-based therapy and crisis intervention while helping people use their mental health benefits.

His practice draws from several methods including cognitive behavioral ideas, acceptance and commitment perspectives, attachment-based thinking, emotionally-focused techniques, and client-centered care. In sessions he uses brief family therapy, structural and strategic systems ideas, hypnotherapy where appropriate, and straightforward communication and addiction work.

Approaches that translate to online care