About Shirley
Shirley Souder is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed clinical social worker with 43 years of clinical experience. She combines practical, down-to-earth conversation with tools that help people manage stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, grief, and phobias. Shirley writes and talks plainly in sessions so parents and busy people can take concrete next steps.
She draws on a mix of approaches that aim to clarify what people want to change and how to do it.
Background and approach
Her background includes work influenced by reality-focused questions about behavior and choice, together with faith-informed counseling methods. Those influences inform how she helps people set goals and practice new ways of coping. Shirley often focuses on emotional forgiveness skills, practical life adjustments, and communication strategies.
She also addresses issues such as self-esteem, addiction concerns, intimacy-related difficulties, anger, and career stress. When relevant she helps people work through parenting stress and caregiver strain. Her training includes degrees in psychology and Christian counseling, and she practices in Indiana as an LMFT and LCSW.
Sessions use straightforward language and step-by-step plans rather than jargon. Shirley aims to help people feel capable of making small changes that add up. Along with in-person work she offers several remote formats so people can fit help into busy lives.
She supports clients who want coaching-style guidance as well as those looking for therapy to cope with major life changes.
Applying practical therapies to online care
Attachment-based therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns. In plain terms it helps people notice how they connect, what makes them pull away, and what can be tried to feel safer in close relationships. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches concrete skills to reduce anxiety and phobic reactions. Emotionally-focused work helps people name and work through strong feelings so they stop driving reactive behavior.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Shirley will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match goals and preferences. That means trying ideas, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together over time.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow a fuller conversation when face-to-face interaction matters, while phone sessions work well for shorter check-ins or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging let someone fit brief coaching or practice into a busy day. These options make it easier to keep care consistent, practice skills between sessions, and fit therapy into school, work, or caregiving schedules.
Questions people ask
What kinds of problems does Shirley address?
What is her general approach in sessions?
How long has she been practicing?
What credentials does she hold and where is she based?
Which languages are sessions offered in?
What session formats are available?
How are fees and payments handled?
How do I begin working with her?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 43 years
- Licensed
- Indiana
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.