LISW, 12 years of experience
New to Grow
Hi, I’m Shanell Manson, a Licensed Independent Social Worker. I specialize in helping adults navigate anxiety, stress, relationship challenges, and life transitions. My approach integrates CBT, ACT, and attachment-based strategies to help you better understand your thoughts, emotions, and patterns so you can create lasting change. I strive to provide a warm, supportive space where you can gain clarity, build confidence, and move toward a more balanced and fulfilling life.
In our first session, we’ll take time to get to know each other and talk about what’s bringing you to therapy. I’ll ask questions to better understand your current challenges, background, and goals, and you’ll have the chance to share what you’d like to focus on and what has or hasn’t worked for you in the past. My goal is to create a comfortable, nonjudgmental space where you feel heard and supported. Together, we’ll start identifying clear goals for our work and begin developing a plan that fits your needs and pace.
My therapeutic style is collaborative, practical, and deeply rooted in evidence-based care. I integrate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and attachment-based techniques to help clients understand how their thoughts, emotions, and past experiences shape their present. I balance insight-building with actionable tools so that you leave each session feeling more clear, capable, and empowered to make real changes in your daily life. Clients often tell me they appreciate my ability to help them see patterns, challenge self-criticism with compassion, and create lasting growth—not just temporary relief.
I work best with adults who are motivated to understand themselves more deeply and ready to make meaningful changes in their lives. Many of my clients come to therapy feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, self-doubt, relationship stress, or the pressure to have it all together. Some are navigating major life transitions or struggling to let go of old patterns that no longer serve them. I specialize in helping individuals who want to build confidence, set healthy boundaries, and feel more grounded and fulfilled in their daily lives. My clients value self-growth and appreciate a balance of warmth, empathy, and practical tools they can use right away.
ACT is an approach that helps clients develop psychological flexibility — the ability to be present, open, and engaged in actions that align with their values even in the face of painful thoughts or feelings. Instead of fighting or avoiding uncomfortable emotions, ACT teaches clients to accept internal experiences and commit to meaningful behavior guided by personal values.
Attachment based focuses on how early relationships with caregivers shape a person’s ability to form and maintain healthy emotional bonds throughout life. In therapy, the goal is to help clients: • Understand their attachment patterns (how they connect, trust, or distance in relationships). • Heal from relational wounds (rejection, abandonment, loss, neglect). • Develop secure attachment behaviors — the ability to depend on others and trust themselves in relationships.
CBT is one of the most evidence-based and widely used therapeutic modalities. It’s based on the principle that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected, and by changing unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, we can improve emotional regulation and functioning.
SFBT is a goal-oriented, future-focused therapeutic approach that helps clients identify and build on their strengths and resources rather than analyzing problems in depth. Instead of asking “Why are you struggling?”, SFBT asks “What’s working, and how can we do more of that?”