Shelly Flachs, LCSW

Shelly Flachs is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois who focuses on clear, practical tools to reduce worry and manage mood. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a central approach and combines it with skills-based methods to help people feel more steady day to day.

She helps with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, bipolar mood shifts, grief, and addictions. People also come for help with relationship and intimacy issues, parenting strain, sleep and eating concerns, anger, self-esteem, career stress, and coping with life changes.

Sessions are collaborative and goal-oriented. Shelly draws on DBT skills and mindfulness to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and grounding techniques. Motivational Interviewing supports people who want to change patterns like substance use or unhealthy habits.

Her approach emphasizes small, practical steps that fit into everyday life. Clients learn to notice unhelpful thoughts, try different behaviors, and track what works. She adapts methods to each person's strengths and pace rather than using one fixed plan.

With 12 years of experience, Shelly brings a calm, straightforward style to sessions. She speaks English and works with adults in Illinois. Sessions are available via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging, using a subscription that can be canceled at any time.

How CBT, DBT, and Mindfulness fit into online care

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors. It helps with anxiety, depression, and patterns that keep problems going by turning insights into small experiments people can try between sessions.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, teaches skills in emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication. Those skills are useful for intense emotions, mood instability, and improving relationship patterns. Mindfulness Therapy helps people ground attention in the present moment and reduce ruminative thinking that fuels stress and anxiety.

Finding the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will work with each person to choose methods that match their goals, comfort level, and daily routines. Plans are adjusted as skills are learned and new challenges appear so therapy stays practical and relevant.

Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life. Video calls allow face-to-face work for skills practice and guided exercises. Phone sessions can be useful when video is not possible, live chat and text messaging provide brief check-ins or ongoing support between meetings. These options offer flexibility for quieter times, lower bandwidth, shorter check-ins, or fitting therapy into a work break.