Shannon Flaherty Gibbons

Shannon Flaherty Gibbons is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in California with 26 years of experience. She focuses on helping people reduce stress and anxiety, improve self-esteem and motivation, and address relationship and parenting concerns. She aims to make the first step into therapy feel manageable and supportive for someone who may be worried or unsure.

Shannon creates a calm, nonjudgmental space where people can talk through difficult thoughts and feelings. She listens closely and helps clients notice patterns that get in the way of daily life. Sessions are relaxed and grounded in practical work rather than long lectures.

Her approach draws on mindfulness practices to help people be more present with themselves. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify values, set small goals, and change unhelpful thinking. Attachment-based ideas inform how she looks at relationship patterns and communication.

Shannon has supported people dealing with a wide range of concerns beyond anxiety and parenting. These include abandonment, caregiving stress, chronic illness and pain, eating and body issues, fertility and cancer-related worries, and the emotional effects of aging. She adapts her tools to the problem at hand.

Therapy with Shannon tends to focus on concrete steps you can try between sessions. She helps people build skills for handling strong emotions, improving communication, and making changes that match their values. The work is collaborative and paced to what each person can manage.

Using Mindfulness, ACT, and Attachment Ideas Online

Shannon uses Mindfulness Therapy to help people notice their thoughts and bodily reactions without getting swept away. Mindfulness practices often involve brief attention exercises and learning simple ways to come back to the present when worry or stress spikes.

She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which focuses on clarifying personal values and taking small, manageable steps toward them. ACT helps with worry, low motivation, and the hard feelings that come with big life changes. Attachment-based approaches are used to look at patterns in relationships and communication, helping people understand why they react a certain way with close others.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. Shannon works collaboratively to choose or combine methods that fit each person's needs, goals, and preferences. She checks in regularly to see what is helping and what should change.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm the specific session options before booking since formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, allow for shorter check-ins when helpful, and reduce travel time. Many clients find online sessions a practical way to build skills and practice new ways of relating between meetings.