- Warm and direct
- Solution focused
- Sleep-aware care
About Mary
Mary Shands is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) practicing in Texas with 12 years of experience. She has worked in schools, an insurance company, a veterans program, a substance abuse treatment center, and a sexual offender treatment program. Mary has helped people with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, parenting concerns, addictions, and sleep-related issues. She brings a warm, energetic approach and strong listening skills to conversations.
Her background includes counseling across a wide age range, from early childhood settings through late adulthood in a variety of systems. That experience shaped a practical style that focuses on what helps day to day. Sessions often include straightforward tools for coping with worry, mood shifts, and difficult life events.
Mary uses a mix of approaches to match each person’s needs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to identify unhelpful thoughts and build different behaviors. Client-Centered work prioritizes the person’s own goals and pace. Attachment-based ideas and emotionally-focused perspectives guide work on relationships and patterns that affect sleep and intimacy.
She has supported people facing grief, eating and body-image concerns, ADHD, compassion fatigue, and career stress. Mary also has experience addressing adoption- and foster-related separation, aging issues, and first responder stress. Her practice includes work with LGBT concerns and issues around recovery from substance use.
Mary asks simple questions at the start and looks for practical steps to try between sessions. Prospective clients are invited to describe their main worries so scheduling and next steps can be arranged.
How Mary’s Approaches Translate to Online Work
Attachment-based ideas focus on how early bonds shape current responses. In sessions this often means looking at relationship patterns and how they affect sleep, safety, and closeness. Client-Centered Therapy centers on the person’s own goals and timing, giving space for people to describe what matters and move at a comfortable pace. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors to reduce anxiety and improve routines that affect rest.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Mary will talk with each person about goals and preferences and then suggest ways of working that fit those aims. That collaborative process helps decide whether to emphasize skills practice, reflection on relationships, or behavioral changes that support better sleep.
Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life. It may allow shorter check-ins between appointments, avoid travel time, and make scheduling around work or caregiving simpler. Confirm current session options before booking to learn which formats are offered and what will best suit your routine.
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 concerns does Mary help with?
She works with a wide range of concerns including stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, addictions, grief, eating and sleeping difficulties, parenting issues, and career stress.
What is Mary’s therapy style like?
Her style is warm and direct, focusing on practical steps and listening closely. She blends cognitive and client-centered approaches and tailors techniques to each person.
How much experience does she have?
Mary has 12 years of counseling experience across schools, veterans programs, substance abuse treatment, and related settings.
What are Mary’s credentials and where is she based?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) licensed in Missouri and Texas and practices from Texas.
Can sessions be conducted in languages other than English?
Sessions are offered in English.
Does Mary work with international clients?
She accepts international clients.
How does cost and payment work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with Mary?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to the therapist’s availability.