Welcome to therapy. Taking the time to explore support is already a courageous first step toward creating positive change in your life.

If you are struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, codependency, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, or a challenging life transition, therapy can provide a safe place to better understand what you are experiencing and begin healing.

My name is Fairy Shaw, and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and EMDR-trained therapist. I am passionate about helping individuals, couples, families, and adolescents find solutions that fit their needs, accomplish meaningful goals, and recognize their potential for personal growth.

As your therapist, I provide a collaborative and nonjudgmental environment where you can explore difficult experiences, understand recurring patterns, strengthen your sense of identity, and discover healthier ways of moving through life.

My Approach to Therapy

My approach is multimodal, client-centered, and strength-based. This means I draw from several well-researched therapeutic approaches and personalize treatment around your experiences, needs, and goals.

My work incorporates:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Terapia de aceptación y compromiso (ACT)
• Existential Therapy
• Humanistic Therapy
• Family-Focused Therapy
• Strength-Based Therapy
• Client-Centered Therapy

My style is compassionate, collaborative, and highly personalized. I value taking the time to understand your perspective, your relationships, your strengths, and the experiences that have shaped the way you see yourself and the world.

I work with clients experiencing concerns such as:

• Trauma and PTSD symptoms
• Anxiety and excessive worry
• Depresión
• Grief and bereavement
• Codependency
• Low self-esteem and low self-worth
• Relationship difficulties
• Family conflict
• Life transitions
• Emotional triggers
• Difficulty setting boundaries
• Identity concerns
• Substance-use concerns
• Mood-related challenges
• Co-occurring mental health concerns
• Feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or emotionally stuck

Together, we can examine how your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and past experiences may be affecting your present life. We can also identify your existing strengths and develop practical tools to help you feel more empowered and connected to yourself.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy

I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, commonly known as EMDR therapy. EMDR is a structured therapeutic approach that can help people process traumatic, distressing, or emotionally overwhelming experiences.

When a difficult experience has not been fully processed, memories of that experience may continue to affect your thoughts, emotions, relationships, beliefs, and physical responses. You may understand logically that an experience is in the past while still feeling as if your mind or body is reacting to it in the present.

EMDR uses bilateral stimulation—such as guided eye movements—while you work with a trained therapist to process distressing memories and the thoughts, emotions, and body sensations connected to them.

EMDR therapy may be helpful for individuals experiencing:

• Trauma or PTSD symptoms
• Childhood trauma
• Distressing or intrusive memories
• Anxiety
• Grief and loss
• Emotional triggers
• Negative beliefs about yourself
• Feelings of guilt or shame
• Relationship trauma
• Difficult life experiences
• Fear or avoidance connected to the past
• Feeling emotionally stuck despite previous personal growth work

EMDR does not necessarily require you to describe every detail of a traumatic experience. Before beginning trauma-processing work, we will discuss your needs, build coping and grounding skills, and determine whether EMDR is an appropriate option for you.

The pace of therapy will be based on your emotional safety, readiness, and individual treatment needs.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, can help you develop a different relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions.

Instead of spending all of your energy fighting, avoiding, or trying to eliminate uncomfortable internal experiences, ACT can help you learn how to acknowledge them without allowing them to control every decision you make.

Through ACT, we may work on:

• Identifying your personal values
• Developing greater psychological flexibility
• Creating distance from unhelpful thoughts
• Increasing self-awareness
• Practicing acceptance and self-compassion
• Taking meaningful action toward your goals
• Building a life that feels more aligned with who you are

ACT may be especially helpful when anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, fear, or self-doubt has made it difficult to move forward.

A Collaborative and Personalized Therapy Experience

I believe you are the expert on your own life. My role is not to judge you or tell you who you should become. My role is to help you understand yourself more deeply, uncover conflicts or patterns that may be difficult to recognize on your own, and support you as you make changes that feel meaningful to you.

Our work may include examining your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, relationships, identity, values, and past experiences. We may also explore unconscious patterns and unresolved conflicts that continue to influence how you relate to yourself and others.

I have experience supporting adolescents, adults, couples, and families with a variety of emotional, relational, and mental health concerns. Treatment is personalized based on each client’s symptoms, strengths, support system, goals, and level of care needed.

My goal is to create a safe therapeutic relationship where you feel seen, respected, and supported as you heal emotional wounds, restore your sense of identity, and explore new ways of living more wholeheartedly.

Is EMDR or Talk Therapy Right for You?

You do not need to know which therapeutic approach you need before beginning treatment.

Together, we can explore what you are experiencing, what you hope to change, and which approach may best support your needs.

EMDR therapy may be appropriate when you want to focus more directly on a traumatic experience, distressing memory, emotional trigger, fear, or negative belief that continues to affect your present life.

Talk therapy provides space to explore emotions, relationships, identity, family dynamics, recurring patterns, grief, life transitions, and personal goals while developing insight and healthier coping skills.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may help when you feel trapped in a cycle of avoiding difficult thoughts or emotions and want to begin making choices based on your values rather than fear.

Family-focused therapy may be helpful when relationship patterns, communication difficulties, parenting concerns, or family conflict are affecting your emotional well-being.

In some cases, we may incorporate elements of several approaches. Therapy will be personalized based on your needs rather than following a one-size-fits-all treatment plan.

Start Therapy with Fairy at Paloma Therapy

You do not have to wait until life becomes overwhelming to begin therapy. Whether you are navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, codependency, relationship difficulties, family conflict, low self-esteem, or a major life transition, therapy can provide a supportive place to begin.

Paloma Therapy offers trauma-informed and LGBTQ+ affirming mental health services, with options for in-person and virtual therapy depending on clinician availability.

Book a consultation with Paloma Therapy to learn more about working with Fairy and determine whether EMDR or another therapeutic approach may be a good fit for your needs.

Email: hello@palomatherapy.com