Licensed to practice in 3 states and accepts 41 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Depression, Life Transitions and 10 more.
(she/her)
Hi there! My name is Shannon Skahan and I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) offering virtual telehealth therapy to clients located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. I received my master's degree in clinical social work from the University of Chicago and have provided individual short-term and long-term therapy within a number of settings related to higher education mental health (student counseling centers), inpatient and outpatient healthcare settings, private practice, and a county jail. It is an honor to bear witness to the experiences clients share during our time together, and I strive to employ a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach throughout treatment. Additionally, I value diversity, equity, and inclusion and center cultural humility in each clinical relationship that is established.
In our first session together we'll meet for about an hour. This appointment will help us to get to know each other and explore goodness of fit for ongoing support. We'll start by going over general housekeeping related to confidentiality, administrative policies, and mutual availability. Later on we'll begin discussing what brings you to counseling during this season of your life, what you hope to get out of working together, and any other questions that arise along the way! I will also let folks know if I feel a referral to another provider would be most appropriate given noted treatment goals.
I consider myself a compassionate, kind, and thoughtful provider. I also approach each session as if clients are in the driver's seat while I gently provide navigational cues and support in the passenger seat! I feel strongly that clients are the experts of their own lived experiences and I check in regularly about whether you feel we're on track with agreed upon treatment goals, or if we would benefit from exploring new goals or approaches throughout our work together.
Helping clients identify, honor, and protect chosen values helps to create a compass that guides us down each path explored together in treatment. I love supporting adult and young adult clients around identity exploration, life transitions, family dynamics, dating/relationships, education/career considerations, trauma processing, and specific goals each person has. Of note, I have extensive experience with supporting young adults in school at the undergraduate or graduate level, in addition to clients currently working in healthcare settings (or planning to do so in the future). My goal is to help clients feel heard, understood, supported, and equipped to increase self-care in practical, realistic ways. I also believe understanding yourself better lends itself to helping you understand who you are today, and the person you hope to become in the future.
Other specialties
I identify as
Cash - $150 per session
Aetna
Aetna - Allied Benefits
Aetna - ASR Health Benefits
Aetna - Luminare
Aetna - Moda
Aetna - WebTPA
Aetna – HealthEZ
All Savers
Amerihealth
Amerihealth Administrators
Anthem
Arlo
AvMed
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Centivo
Cigna
Cigna - HealthEZ
EAP:Cigna
EAP:Evernorth
EAP:UnitedHealthcare/Optum
Evernorth
Geisinger - Commercial
Golden Rule
GTEB
Harvard Pilgrim/UnitedHealthcare
Highmark
Horizon
Independence Administrators
Independence Blue Cross
Optum
OptumHealth Complex Medical Conditions
Oscar
Oxford
Surest (formerly Bind)
Tufts Health/Cigna
United Medical Resources
UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance
UnitedHealthcare Shared Services
UnitedHealthcare StudentResources
UnitedHealthcare/Optum
UPMC Health Plan
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Helping clients explore values is a passion of mine, and doing so leads to conversations that enable us to work together when considering how to honor and protect these values. ACT also helps clients identify/respond to emotions, increase self-compassion, and consider what matters most in life.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) offers an evidence-based approach to support clients who have experienced traumatic events or complex trauma across the lifespan. EMDR also helps clients get "unstuck" so that conversations in treatment feel both validating and adaptive. EMDR can be offered as a stand-alone approach, or in conjunction with other evidence-based approaches, and I only utilize EMDR when clients have consented to adding this trauma-focused approach to our work together.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT offers clients an ability to focus on mindfulness practice, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and increasing interpersonal effectiveness in relationships. DBT also provides clients with strong coping skills to assist with managing stressors of everyday life. I tend to utilize DBT as an accessory to another evidence-based form of treatment when helpful.
Eclectic
Learning how to approach my clinical practice with skilled eclecticism has enabled me to approach therapy visits as client-centered and tailored to individual needs. Introducing aspects of ACT, EMDR, DBT, CBT, Motivational Interviewing, psychodynamic theory, and family systems approaches helps me think creatively about how to support individual short-term and long-term treatment goals. Leaning into meaningful eclecticism also enables me pull from other evidence-based approaches when doing so will help clients achieve their goals.
Relational
In my opinion the most important aspect of counseling is the unique relationship we create during our time together. My clinical style is conversational and I will always prioritize our working relationship throughout treatment.