Shannon Flaherty Gibbons, LCSW

Shannon Flaherty Gibbons is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 26 years of experience. She practices in California and helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship strains, parenting challenges, and worries about self-esteem and motivation. She aims to make reaching out feel manageable and straightforward for someone taking that first step.

Shannon builds sessions around open conversation. She creates space where thoughts and feelings can be named without judgment. In those conversations she listens for what matters most to each person and helps them find realistic next steps.

Her work draws on several practical approaches, including cognitive behavioral ideas for spotting unhelpful thinking, acceptance and commitment strategies for building values-based action, and attachment-focused ways of understanding relationship patterns. She adapts tools to the day-to-day needs people bring into sessions.

Shannon often focuses on life transitions and coping with change, including issues tied to aging, caregiver stress, chronic illness, fertility and cancer-related concerns. She also supports people dealing with codependency, communication problems, and feelings of emptiness.

Sessions tend to be conversational and goal-oriented, with an emphasis on skills you can use between meetings. The aim is to help people manage current stressors and build clearer plans for moving forward. To begin, she asks people to share what they hope to change and then collaborates on a plan to get there.

Therapeutic approaches and how they work online

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice unhelpful thoughts without trying to fight them and then take actions that align with their values. It can be useful for stress, anxiety, and making concrete life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying thinking patterns that contribute to distress and practicing new ways of responding to those thoughts; it often helps with anxiety and self-esteem concerns. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship experiences shape current patterns and can help people improve communication and connection in important relationships.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose or combine methods that match their goals and preferences. Expect a conversation about what feels most useful and adjustments over time based on progress and feedback.

The biography does not specify which online session formats are offered, so confirm current options before booking. In general, online sessions can make it easier to schedule therapy around work and family life, reduce travel time, and allow quicker check-ins on busy days. Some formats also let people use quieter settings, avoid being on camera, or have shorter sessions when needed. Ask about session length and format when you schedule to find what fits your routine.