Shelby Chantilly Alkire
MSSW, LCSW #75373, RYT-200
Hi, my name is Shelby Alkire. Let me tell you a little about myself.
I’ve always been driven. I’ve always known exactly what I want to do… until I didn’t.
I was the teenager who received good grades, knew she would go to a 4-year university, and then continue on to get a Masters degree.
After graduating college with my Master’s of Science Degree in Social Work from Columbia University in NYC, I felt stuck. I no longer had a clear, laid out path to travel. I was 22 years old and living back at home, staying between my sister’s house and my mother’s house.
It wasn’t that I was struggling to find the right job for me, I was struggling to find a job PERIOD. I had once been at the top of my class, attending an Ivy League University, feeling unstoppable… and then it just stopped. I was feeling apathetic, uninterested, and emotionless.
The next 4 years consisted of negative coping skills, numerous jobs, depression, anxiety, medication, alcohol abuse, a lack of sleep, too much sleep, and little consistency. I knew I needed help, but something was stopping me. It’s like I didn’t want to admit I couldn’t figure things out alone.
Needless to say, things finally came to a head. I could not pretend to move forward and lie to myself and others anymore.
I decided (& the universe truly decided for me) that I needed help.
I tried a little of everything in the “self-help” and “therapeutic” realms: individual therapy, group therapy, yoga classes, workout classes, antidepressants, psychiatry, self-help books, running marathons, sleeping… I tried it all. Which brings me to why I’m here.
It’s precisely because I have tried it all that I know one thing is certain: There is no one way to heal. No one method will work for everyone. For the past 5 years I have worked with hundreds of clients, all struggling with their own unique set of circumstances. One thing that almost every client had in common? Most struggled to identify how they were feeling. If we are unclear on how we are feeling, how can we move forward?
The way I work with clients one-on-one has been influenced by my personal experiences. My passion has developed into helping people integrate their minds and bodies, learn to identify and feel their emotions, and learn to be OK with those emotions.