- Warm listening
- Practical strategies
- Collaborative goals
About Mary
Mary Shands is a Licensed Professional Counselor with more than 12 years of clinical experience. She holds licenses in Missouri and Texas and has worked in schools, substance abuse treatment, veterans services, and other community settings. Mary aims to listen carefully and bring steady, practical support to people facing stress and major life changes.
Her background includes counseling across a wide age span, from early childhood settings to late adulthood. She has supported people coping with trauma, depression, anxiety, addiction, and grief. Mary has also helped with parenting concerns, adoption and separation issues, emotional abuse, and codependency-related struggles.
In sessions she uses a mix of straightforward approaches such as cognitive behavioral techniques and client-centered methods. Mindfulness-based tools and reality-oriented problem solving are also part of her work when helpful. This allows her to focus on everyday changes that make life feel more manageable.
Mary emphasizes clear listening and an energetic, warm presence. She offers practical strategies and also makes room for people to talk through feelings and the roots of painful patterns. Her style balances honest feedback with empathy.
People who come to Mary often want help with relationships, coping skills, and overcoming patterns that keep them stuck. She works collaboratively to set goals and build steps clients can try between sessions. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule based on availability.
How Mary blends approaches in online care
Attachment-based work focuses on how early relationships shape current patterns. It helps when trust, closeness, or fears about rejection affect relationships and intimacy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going and offers practical steps to change them, which is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping skills. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centers on emotions in the moment, helping people name and shift strong feelings that get in the way of connection.Choosing the right approach is part of therapy. Mary collaborates with each person to identify what fits their needs and goals. She checks in about what helps and adjusts methods as the work progresses so the plan stays practical and relevant.
If you want online sessions, confirm the specific session options before booking since formats are not listed in the biography. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when days are tight. It also lets people try therapeutic tools from their everyday setting, practice new skills between meetings, and bring real-life situations into conversation with the therapist.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
12+ years
Credentials
Missouri, Texas
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does Mary help with?
She helps people managing stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, grief, parenting challenges, codependency, eating and sleeping issues, and related life changes.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Sessions are conversational and goal-focused. Mary blends practical techniques with client-centered listening to help people try new ways of coping.
How much experience does she have?
Mary has 12 years of professional experience across schools, veterans services, substance abuse treatment, and other clinical settings.
Where is Mary licensed and based?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with licenses in Missouri and Texas and practices from Texas.
Which languages are supported?
Sessions are offered in English, and she accepts international clients.
What session formats are offered?
Please confirm current session options before booking, as the biography does not list specific formats.
How are fees handled?
Cost varies with location and scheduling, and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I get started with Mary?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a session according to the therapist's availability.
Profile details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. Credential and registration rules differ between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.