Shannon DuBoise

Maybe you're the person everyone else leans on, and lately you've been running on empty. Maybe grief has rearranged your life. Maybe anxiety has been loud for so long you've stopped noticing it, or you just feel stuck and can't quite name why. Whatever brought you here, you don't have to arrive with it sorted out. I'm Shannon DuBoise, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas, and I work with adults and teens navigating anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, caregiving, and the kind of life transitions that quietly wear a person down. I earned my Master of Arts at Angelo State University, and I draw on Internal Family Systems, trauma-focused CBT, emotionally focused therapy, and mindfulness-based work — though in the room it feels much less clinical than that list sounds. I'm especially drawn to people who spend most of their energy taking care of everyone else: adult children looking after aging parents, partners holding a household together, teenagers carrying more than their share. My approach is holistic, which for me means we look at your whole life — sleep, relationships, work, your body, your history — not just the symptom that finally made you book. Therapy isn't one-size-fits-all, and I'd rather build something that fits you than hand you a protocol.

I work collaboratively, which means you won't be sitting across from someone quietly diagnosing you. We figure out together what's actually going on and what would help. Early on that usually looks like getting curious about patterns — the reactions that surprise you, the thoughts that loop, the ways you learned to protect yourself that made sense once and don't serve you now. From there we build practical skills: emotional regulation, boundaries, ways to steady yourself when things spike, and language for feelings that have never had words. I use Internal Family Systems when different parts of you seem to want opposite things, trauma-focused CBT when something from the past is still running the present, emotionally focused therapy when the work is really about connection, and mindfulness when the goal is simply being in your body without bracing. I also lean on narrative work, because the story you tell about your own life isn't fixed, and it matters more than most people realize. What I won't do is rush you. Some sessions are strategy and homework. Some are just having somewhere to put it all down.

The first session is mostly you talking and me listening, and there's no wrong way to do it. I'll ask what brought you in now — the "now" part is usually the interesting part — and we'll cover some background: family, health, what you've already tried, what helped and what didn't. Expect a few practical questions too, about sleep, work, and who's actually in your corner. You set the pace. If something feels like too much to say out loud in week one, you can just tell me it's there and we'll come back to it when you're ready. Nothing gets pried open. Before we wrap I'll tell you what I'm hearing and what I think the work might look like, and we'll pick one or two places to start rather than twelve. You'll leave knowing what happens next — and if it turns out I'm not the right fit for you, I'll say so and help you find someone who is.