Shawna Chandler , LCSW

Shawna Chandler is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people manage stress, anxiety, relationship strain, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, and depression. She speaks plainly and aims to make therapy feel approachable for people who are nervous about starting. Shawna works with adults in California and offers a steady, patient presence during difficult conversations.

Her style centers on listening first and then building practical steps forward. Shawna creates an atmosphere where thoughts and feelings can be said without fear of judgment. She encourages small, doable changes that add up over time and supports people as they practice new ways of coping.

Over two decades of experience inform her work, including support for issues like abandonment, caregiver stress, codependency, communication problems, divorce and domestic violence. She draws on a mix of methods to match the needs of each person rather than using a single fixed approach.

Shawna uses techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, EMDR, and client-centered methods when appropriate. These tools help with symptoms, managing distress, and building clearer goals for life and relationships.

Sessions are offered in English and delivered online by video call, phone, live chat, or text messaging. Shawna works with each person to set goals and choose the pace that feels right for them. If someone wants to begin, the first step is a short matching questionnaire to find a good fit.

Therapeutic approaches for online healing

Shawna commonly draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing as starting points. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on noticing difficult thoughts and feelings without fighting them, and then choosing actions that align with what matters most. It can help with anxiety, low mood, and ongoing stress by shifting how someone responds to internal experiences. EMDR is used to help process distressing memories; it involves revisiting troubling experiences in a structured way to reduce their emotional intensity and build new meaning.

She also uses client-centered principles so the work stays grounded in each person's own goals and pace. Finding the right approach is a collaborative process - the therapist will talk with the client about goals, try methods that fit, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients are invited to give feedback and shape the plan as therapy progresses.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into a busy life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation for in-depth work, phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth is limited, and brief check-ins work well over chat or text. These options give flexibility for scheduling, help maintain continuity when travel or relocation happens, and let people choose the communication style they find most comfortable.