Shirley Butler , LCSW

Shirley Butler is a Native American Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in Montana with 23 years of experience in the mental health field. She has worked across community mental health and Tribal Behavioral Health settings, serving both in-office clients and as a crisis on-call therapist on rotation, and she established her private practice in 2013. Her training includes a Bachelor of Human Services Rehabilitation from Salish Kootenai College (1998) and a Master of Social Work from Walla Walla University in Missoula (2004). After earning her MSW, she completed three thousand supervised clinical hours before sitting for her clinical license exam.

Shirley is trained in EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - which she has used to assist people coping with post-traumatic stress and other disturbing or adverse experiences. She values cultural diversity and draws on long experience living and working on the reservation as well as in other cultural settings. Shirley prefers to build a strong therapeutic rapport and to develop collaboratively tailored treatment plans that reflect each person’s unique history and goals.

Her areas of focus include stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, self-esteem, depression, coping with life changes, relationships and family issues, grief, parenting, anger, career concerns, and bipolar disorder, along with related topics such as abandonment, codependency, commitment issues, communication problems, forgiveness, post-traumatic stress, self-love, and women's issues. She emphasizes the healing potential of telling one’s story and partnering with people who know which parts of themselves they want to explore.

Attachment, Client-Centered, and CBT Approaches for Online Care

Shirley Butler draws on several well-established approaches tailored to each person's needs. Attachment-Based Therapy explores patterns in close relationships and how early bonds affect current emotional responses - it is helpful for people dealing with trust, intimacy, and relationship difficulties. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathy, acceptance, and collaboration so that individuals lead the work and shape goals that matter most to them - it supports self-exploration, self-esteem, and personal growth. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thought and behavior patterns and developing practical strategies to change them - it is commonly used for anxiety, depression, and stress-related concerns.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Shirley works collaboratively with each person to determine which methods fit their goals, preferences, and life circumstances, adjusting the plan as progress unfolds.

Online therapy options including video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging offer flexible ways to maintain regular work with a licensed professional. These formats make it easier to schedule sessions around busy lives, connect across distances including international locations, and continue consistent support through life transitions.