Hello.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Austin, Texas, and I've been in private practice for over 12 years. I work with adults and adolescents dealing with trauma, depression, anxiety, overwhelming fears, explosive anger, grief, and substance issues. The common denominator for me is that these are all maladies related to the human emotional system. And unless you are a very lucky person, guess what part of the human experience is never addressed by our educational system? Emotions! We're left to figure our feelings out on our own, and most of us develop patterns in childhood and adolescence that helped us cope at the time, but no longer serve us as adults.
My approach is to explore this territory in a collaborative, non-judgmental way, and see how we can dismantle some of those old programs and create new relationships with our emotions that give us greater control and greater regulation over our inner experience. I have studied trauma and its effects in great depth, and it is my belief that those of us that do not transform our trauma will continue to transmit it -- to our partners, to our children, to our personal and professional relationships.
I am the father of three young women, ages 19, 16, and 12, and I delight in the emotional connection I have with my daughters. Before I entered counseling, I was a high school English teacher, a professional actor and standup comedian, and spent many years working in the restaurant industry. I am working on a screenwriting project, and I am a huge fan of live music, film, and art. My understanding of creativity, emotional life, and human relationships gives me a great foundation for the empathetic work of emotional healing.
I love this work, and everything that I suggest or recommend to my clients is a practice that I utilize personally. Since COVID changed all of our lives over the past year and a half, I have adapted to working online, and I love the flexibility and accessibility that have emerged from this difficult time. I see BetterHelp as a natural extension of this reach and I look forward to collaborating with you on this platform.
Additional areas of focus: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship issues, Trauma and abuse, Anger management, Career difficulties, Bipolar disorder, Attachment Issues, Blended Family Issues, Codependency, Communication Problems, Coping with Natural or Human-Caused Disaster, Dissociation, Divorce and Separation, Domestic Violence, Drug and Alcohol Addiction, Emptiness, Family of Origin Issues, Family Problems, Fatherhood Issues, Guilt and Shame, Isolation / Loneliness, Life Purpose, Men's Issues, Midlife Crisis, Panic Disorder and Panic Attacks, Post-traumatic Stress, Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling), Self-Harm, Self-Love, Sexual Assault and Abuse, Sexuality, Social Anxiety and Phobia, Young Adult Issues
Clinical approaches: Client-Centered Therapy, Existential Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Jungian Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy
TX LPC 64285
These quotes represent just a few of the many positive reviews that we have received for James Shakespeare. We don't pay anyone to provide their review and they are all made voluntarily. Some people's experience receiving therapy with BetterHelp might be different.
I feel a great connection with James because we seem to share some common life experiences and have similar views.
Written on Oct 08, 2023 after therapy with James for 2 weeks on issues concerning depression, stress, anxiety, addictions, relationship issues, family conflicts, trauma and abuse, grief, intimacy-related issues, sleeping disorders, parenting issues, self esteem, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, and adhd