Shirley Butler , LCSW

Shirley Butler is a 63-year-old Native American Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing from Montana with 23 years of experience in the mental health field. She built a private practice in 2013 after many years working in community mental health and Tribal Behavioral Health, where she served on crisis on-call rotations and provided in-office care.

She holds a Bachelor degree in Human Services Rehabilitation from Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead Indian Reservation and a Master of Social Work from Walla Walla University in Missoula, earned in 2004. Following graduate school she completed three thousand supervised clinical hours prior to sitting for her clinical licensing exam, a route that informed her clinical foundation and practical skills.

Shirley is trained in EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - an approach that can be helpful for post-traumatic stress and other distressing experiences. Comfortable across diverse cultural settings, she has spent considerable time living and working on reservation communities while also engaging with a variety of populations and cultures.

Curiosity about human behavior led her to social work and continues to guide her practice. She emphasizes building a trusting therapeutic alliance, listening to each person tell their story, and collaborating to create individualized treatment plans that reflect the client’s goals and strengths.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care with Shirley Butler

Shirley Butler integrates evidence-informed methods tailored to each person she works with. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationships shape current emotional patterns and connection styles - it helps people who struggle with trust, intimacy, or patterns of closeness and distance. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a nonjudgmental, empathetic stance in which the therapist follows the client's lead to foster self-understanding and growth - this approach suits people seeking greater self-awareness, self-esteem, or direction in life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) addresses the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by teaching practical strategies to manage anxiety, depression, and stress.

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

Online therapy offers flexible access to licensed professionals through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to schedule sessions around life demands, maintain continuity of care during transitions, and use different communication styles to match what feels most comfortable for the individual.