Patrick Shanahan, LCSW

Patrick Shanahan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 44 years of practice who approaches therapy from the view that people are generally self-correcting, a perspective informed by the work of Carl Jung and Milton Erickson. He understands that people can become stuck for many reasons and that moving beyond those blocks often opens the way to healthier patterns. Shanahan emphasizes the role of personal value systems in finding direction and practical solutions, and his study of comparative religions and cultures supports his ability to work with diverse beliefs and backgrounds.

He began his career by creating and directing an outpatient clinic within a runaway and homeless youth shelter, a role he held for 18 years. In that setting he provided case management as well as individual and family therapy to youth and their families, working both inside the shelter and out in the community. During that period he trained and supervised paid staff and graduate students and partnered with a local university on research to refine the clinic's therapeutic model. He completed 29 hours toward a Ph.D. in family therapy and was offered a fellowship with Washington University's Ph.D. program.

Shanahan's primary strengths lie in working with individuals and couples. His clinical approach blends brief family therapy, problem-solving therapy, structural and strategic systems theory, hypnotherapy, cognitive-behavioral methods, communication theory, and addiction therapies. He also spent 18 years working in managed care, helping members use their mental health benefits and providing phone-based therapy and crisis intervention, and he has provided professional Christian therapy in a part-time outpatient role.

Across diverse outpatient and community settings, Shanahan draws on decades of experience to help clients navigate relationship challenges, family dynamics, addiction concerns, and other life transitions, using an integrative approach shaped by both research and practical clinical work.