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Hello! I’m Shawny

She/Her, LMFT, Truth Teller

I know about dichotomy.

One side of my family were midwestern church leaders, the other traveled the country working the carnival circuit.

You don’t grow up in that intersection without some messiness. 

I know that internal push-pull. Feeling incongruent, out of place, not quite right. Keenly attuned to everything, but not able to make the leaps I needed. 

Journeying through this internal tension, plus my queerness, plus life, I found three truths:

All parts of us can coexist. 

All healing happens in relationship to the body.

My calling is to speak the unspeakable. 


These truths are the foundation of my life. Here’s how I live them as a therapist.

All parts of us can coexist. 

I will recognize all of you.

The parts you love, the parts you’re ashamed of, the parts no one has ever seen, the parts no one thought to question.  

Together, we will hold them all with the tenderness they deserve. We will tune into the wisdom they have to share to create balance inside and out.

All healing happens in relationship to the body.

I tried for years to think my way out of my pain.

Spoiler alert! It did not work.

I will help you learn a new way make change in your life. We will heal deeper than language. This can look like:

  • movement

  • making art

  • telling stories

  • creating imaginary worlds

  • playing music

  • paying attention to how something feels, instead of what you think about it.

If all of that sounds scary as hell, I get it. And it’s the best way I know to repair what feels permanently broken. When our hearts and bodies get on the train to healing, we are unstoppable.

My calling is to speak the unspeakable. 

With me, nothing is too much. I spent years as a sex educator, followed by years as a therapist. I have heard it all.

I am not afraid to hear what you need to say. And I am not afraid to say what you need to hear.

I create a space where we are grounded in radical honesty and radical kindness.

We will be brave and soft. Gentle and direct.

We will bust the false binary that telling the truth means not giving a f*ck about people’s feelings.

By intentionally inhabiting this space with me, you will be able to show up for your loves with even more authenticy.

Ready to build a new type of relationship?