Shelly Ferrell

I’m a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist with a master’s degree in Addiction Psychology. I work with adults navigating substance use disorders, trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship concerns, major life changes, and other mental health and emotional challenges. I also work with people who experience themselves as deeply empathic or highly sensitive and may struggle to understand why they absorb so much from the people and environments around them.

A lot of the people I work with are used to holding everything together on the outside while feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or exhausted underneath. Sometimes that shows up as substance abuse. Sometimes it looks like overthinking, people-pleasing, shutting down, staying in unhealthy patterns, or being harder on yourself than you would ever be on anyone else.

I don’t believe you are defined by your worst day, your diagnosis, or the ways you learned to survive difficult things. Therapy can be a place to slow things down, make sense of what has been happening, and start creating a little more balance and calm in the chaos.

My approach is warm, conversational, collaborative, and grounded. I believe therapy works best when you feel like you can show up as yourself without having to perform, impress anyone, or have the “right” answers.

I draw from CBT, DBT, ACT, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed therapy, person-centered therapy, solution-focused work, and parts work. But more than anything, I try to help people understand themselves with less judgment and more curiosity.

We may look at patterns, relationships, old wounds, coping strategies, the inner critic, or the parts of you that developed to help you get through difficult experiences. Instead of focusing only on “What is wrong with me?” we may ask, “What happened? What did I learn from it? What was this pattern trying to do for me? And what do I need now?”

Because recovery has also been part of my own life experience, I sometimes draw from principles found in 12-step recovery, such as honesty, acceptance, accountability, connection, and learning to focus on what we can actually change. That does not mean you have to work the steps, attend meetings, or follow any particular recovery path. I see those ideas as tools that may be useful for some people, and we use only what fits for you.

Therapy can hold serious things without feeling heavy all the time. There is room for humor, honesty, music, books, spirituality, recovery wisdom, and real-life conversation. The goal is not perfection. It is helping you feel more steady, connected, and able to navigate life with a little more clarity and a little less overwhelm.

The first session is about getting comfortable, getting to know each other, and figuring out what feels most important right now.

You do not need to have everything figured out. We can take things slowly, work on reducing shame and self-criticism, and start rebuilding self-worth and connection in ways that actually feel manageable.

I want the session to feel like a real conversation, not an interview. My goal is for you to leave feeling heard, a little less overwhelmed, and with a clearer sense of where we can start.

We do not need to untangle everything all at once, because honestly, that’s impossible.