- 27 years experience
- Focus on relationships
- Strengths-based care
About Shawn
Shawn Mcgivern is a licensed mental health counselor who brings 27 years of clinical experience to meetings with individuals. She focuses on practical, person-focused work that helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and relationship challenges. Shawn also supports people dealing with trauma and abuse, eating and sleeping concerns, identity and LGBT questions, and codependency-related struggles.
Shawn centers sessions on the client's strengths and priorities. She uses straightforward conversation to help clients notice patterns, make different choices, and try small experiments between sessions. The practice emphasizes clearer communication, healthier boundaries, and tools for coping with life changes and workplace strain.
Her background includes work with attachment concerns, abandonment issues, blended family stress, caregiver strain, and difficulties with commitment or control. Shawn blends approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Attachment-Based Therapy to match what each person needs. She aims to help clients build self-understanding and steady routines that support emotional well-being.
Shawn frames therapy as a collaboration. Sessions are paced to the individual and focus on realistic goals like sleeping better, reducing panic, improving intimacy-related concerns, or managing anger. People looking to address adoption or foster care questions, dissociation, or separation-related stress will find these topics within her practice scope.
She practices in Massachusetts and works in English. To begin, people are asked to use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to therapist availability.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages people to notice thoughts and feelings without fighting them, then choose actions that match their values. It can help with anxiety, depression, and life transitions by focusing on small, purposeful steps. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns and offers ways to create clearer boundaries and safer closeness in relationships. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person's experience and uses open listening to help people find their own solutions and grow self-trust.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Shawn will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match their goals and preferences. That may mean using ACT tools one week and attachment-focused conversation the next, all decided together based on what is most helpful.
Session formats are not listed in the biography, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time, allow a shorter check-in when schedules are tight, and offer alternatives when in-person meetings are difficult to arrange. Licensed professionals can adapt exercises, worksheets, and behavioral experiments to a remote setting so people can practice skills between sessions and track progress over time.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
27+ years
Credentials
Massachusetts
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does Shawn help with?
She helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and abuse, and relationship or intimacy-related issues. Additional areas include eating and sleeping concerns, codependency, attachment struggles, and career or life transitions.
How would you describe Shawn's therapeutic style?
Her style is collaborative and empathetic with a focus on practical tools. Sessions use conversation and small experiments to build skills and insight.
What experience does she bring to therapy?
She has 27 years of clinical experience working with a wide range of emotional and relationship concerns. That experience informs a flexible, individualized approach.
What are Shawn's credentials and where does she practice?
Shawn holds an MA and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) practicing in Massachusetts.
In which languages can sessions be held?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can I work with Shawn from outside the United States?
She is not currently accepting international clients; sessions are arranged within the therapist's stated practice region.
How are costs and payments handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability, and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What do I need to do to start therapy?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions 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.