Shannon Duffy

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor with two master's degrees — one in Counseling, one in Exercise Science — so I pay attention to both the mind and the body during conflict. I specialize in couples stuck in the pursue-withdraw cycle, especially the partner who shuts down or goes quiet. A lot of my clients have been told they're "bad communicators" — I help them figure out what's actually happening instead. I'm direct, I love the Gottman research, and I bring a lot of real life (including some solo bike touring through South America) into how I connect with clients.

I believe in failing forward — there's no one-size-fits-all approach, so I ask clients for honest feedback along the way about what's working and what isn't. I move toward conflict instead of away from it, and I pay close attention to the body, since staying present in an argument is often a physical challenge before an emotional one. We'll get into the hard stuff, but I want us to laugh together too — that's usually where real trust gets built.

We'll spend the first session figuring out your specific pattern — what triggers conflict, how it escalates, and what each of you does when it gets to be too much. I keep things direct and low-pressure — no forced vulnerability, just an honest starting point. Most clients leave with at least one new way of understanding what's been happening, and a clear sense of what we'll work on next.