Mr. Kirk Shelton

LPC, LCPC, Telehealth Registered

My path to becoming a licensed professional counselor began in high school, when peers frequently came to me to discuss their challenges. That early experience sparked my passion for counseling and psychology, leading me to pursue higher education in the field. After working in optics, I transitioned to foster care and community mental health, where I developed expertise in trauma-informed care and earned EMDR certification through EMDRIA. As a therapist, I value meeting clients where they are, walking alongside them on their journey, and supporting them in discovering deeper meaning and purpose in their lives.

I'm not sure there was one movie or book that directly informed my approach, but in the spirit of the question as asked, I'd like to cite the 1952 Kurosawa film 'Ikiru' as an excellent example of the humanistic-existentialist values in which I root my work. The film centers less on self-improvement or symptom relief than on the slow awakening of agency, responsibility, and meaning in the face of finitude. Its emphasis on lived experience, moral choice without guarantees, and the quiet dignity of ordinary action aligns closely with a therapeutic stance that privileges presence, authenticity, and the client’s own encounter with what matters, rather than technique-driven solutions or externally imposed narratives of purpose.

My approach to therapy is eclectic and collaborative rather than manualized. I prioritize the therapeutic relationship and let method emerge in response to the client, rather than organizing the work around a fixed protocol. I am EMDR-certified and use EMDR and other approaches to provide structure when it is needed, especially in trauma work, while staying oriented toward presence, meaning, and shared responsibility in the process.