About Ryan
Ryan Shelby Butler is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Arizona who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship strain, grief, addictions, and phobias. He works with adults and youth ages 8 and up, and supports people dealing with parenting challenges, intimacy concerns, anger, ADHD, and life changes.
Ryan aims to create straightforward, values-informed care that fits each person's life and goals. He blends practical talk therapy with skills training and reflective listening.
Background and approach
Sessions often focus on concrete steps clients can try between meetings. Ryan draws on cognitive approaches and behavioral skills to reduce distress, along with acceptance-based ideas to build flexibility and meaning. Ryan earned a Master of Science in Professional Counseling and a post-graduate degree in Christian Counseling from Grand Canyon University.
He also holds a Master of Science in Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies with emphases in psychology, philosophy, and business. His work history includes counseling roles in higher education, where he supported students and campus teams. In session he emphasizes collaboration and respect for each person's values and background.
He uses client-centered methods to follow what matters most to the person in front of him. He also incorporates techniques from dialectical behavior approaches when emotion regulation and coping skills are primary needs. Outside of clinical work Ryan spends time with family, serves in church leadership, and enjoys reading and outdoor activities.
He describes therapy as a joint process where the client’s strengths guide change. If someone wants a practical, value-aware approach to everyday problems, he aims to be that partner.
How Ryan's Approaches Work Online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and choose actions that align with their values. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and life changes where the goal is living a meaningful life rather than erasing every uncomfortable feeling.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going and trying practical steps to change them. It often involves experiments and between-session practice to reduce symptoms like panic, phobias, or persistent worry.
Ryan uses these approaches alongside client-centered listening to tailor work to each person's needs. He will collaborate with the client to decide which tools to emphasize based on goals, preferences, and what feels helpful in early sessions.
Online therapy with Ryan is offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and skills practice. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or travel and support shorter check-ins or ongoing coaching between longer sessions.
These formats aim to make regular therapy more flexible and easier to maintain while using the same therapeutic methods he applies in person.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Arizona
- Languages
- English
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