Shane Summers

What should your client know about you?

Hi, I’m Shane Summers, LCSW. I’m a therapist who tries to make therapy feel real, practical, and human. My style is down-to-earth, honest, and supportive. I work with people who are dealing with anxiety, depression, ADHD, body image concerns, disordered eating patterns, family stress, burnout, and life transitions.

My background includes community mental health, crisis work, and working with adolescents and families in higher levels of care. Those experiences shaped how I show up in therapy: calm, direct, and focused on helping people feel understood without being judged or talked down to.

I believe people are more than their symptoms or diagnosis, and therapy should help you understand yourself better while also building realistic ways to move forward.

What is your approach to therapy?

My approach is collaborative, direct, and practical. I do not believe therapy has to feel cold, overly clinical, or scripted. I work to create a space where clients can be honest about what is actually going on, while also being gently challenged when something is keeping them stuck.

I often use a mix of insight-building, skill development, emotional processing, and behavioral change. This may include looking at thought patterns, relationships, coping strategies, avoidance, self-worth, boundaries, and how past experiences may still be affecting the present.

I try to meet clients where they are, but I also focus on helping them build movement, confidence, and accountability in a way that feels realistic.

What can clients expect from their first session with you?

In the first session, we will focus on getting to know what brought you to therapy, what has been going on recently, and what you are hoping will feel different. I will ask questions about your background, current stressors, symptoms, relationships, coping skills, and goals.

You do not have to come in knowing exactly what to say. My goal is to make the first session feel comfortable, clear, and low-pressure. We will start identifying what feels most important to work on and what kind of support may be helpful.

Clients can expect me to be warm, direct, and engaged. I want therapy to feel like a place where you can be honest, feel understood, and leave with a clearer sense of where we are headed.