Practitioner record · Checked 7 Nov 2026

Patrick Shanahan has been in practice 44 years and is licensed in Missouri. Patrick lists relationship issues, grief and anger management among 45 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Patrick's own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

44years in practice
45subjects listed
13approaches listed

01 · Who Patrick works with

Patrick works with relationship issues, grief and anger management

Patrick lists 15 specialisms and 30 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Patrick chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Relationship issues
  • Grief
  • Anger management
  • Self esteem
  • Depression
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Addictions
  • Family conflicts
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Parenting issues
  • Career difficulties
  • Coping with life changes
  • Coaching
  • Compassion fatigue
Also experienced with
  • Adoption and foster care
  • Aging and geriatric issues
  • Blended family issues
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Codependency
  • Communication problems
  • Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
  • Divorce and separation
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Family of origin issues
  • Family problems
  • Fatherhood issues
  • First responder issues
  • Forgiveness
  • Guilt and shame
  • Hospice and end-of-life counseling
  • Infidelity
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Jealousy
  • Life purpose
  • Men's issues
  • Midlife crisis
  • Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
  • Money and financial issues
  • Multicultural concerns
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  • Self-love
  • Workplace issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Patrick's own words

What Patrick says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

My belief and approach to therapy begins with the idea that humans are generally self- correcting. This follows the teaching of both Carl Jung and Milton Erickson. We can get stuck for a variety of reasons and if able to get past that point, it can lead to us moving in a healthier direction. I believe that our value systems are extremely important to finding direction and solutions. I have studied comparative religions and cultures to be able to understand and work with a wide variety of people. I have worked in many different settings with a wide range of cultures and values. Currently my greatest strength is in working with individuals and couples. I started my career by creating and running an outpatient clinic as part of a runaway and homeless youth shelter. I did this for my first 18 years. We provided case management, individual and family therapy to youth and their families. We did this both in the shelter and in the community. My personal approach includes brief family therapy, problem solving therapy, structural and strategic systems theory, hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral, communication theory and addiction therapies. I trained and supervised paid staff and graduate students. I worked in conjunction with a local university to conduct research which enabled us to improve our working therapy model and process. During this time, I completed 29 hours towards a PH. D in family therapy. I was offered a fellowship with Washington University's Ph. D program. I worked part time for New Life Christian Counseling, an outpatient therapy group, providing professional Christian therapy. I then worked 18 years for managed care helping members utilize their mental health benefits, providing phone therapy and crisis intervention. My other experiences were in outpatient office settings.

Patrick Shanahan, on the BetterHelp listing · read 7 Nov 2026

03 · How Patrick works

The 10 approaches Patrick lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Patrick lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Patrick's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Patrick runs a session.

Acceptance and Commitment TherapyACT
Rather than trying to argue a painful thought away, ACT works on loosening its grip and getting on with what matters to you anyway. Sessions spend real time naming your values, then building action around them while difficult feelings are still present.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.
Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Emotionally Focused TherapyEFT
Built for couples and rooted in attachment: the recurring argument is treated as a cycle two people are stuck in rather than as one person's fault. Sessions work to interrupt the cycle and get to what each person is actually asking for underneath it.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Narrative Therapy
Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Internal Family SystemsIFS
Treats the mind as made up of parts - the critic, the one who withdraws, the one that keeps everything running - each of which is trying to protect you. The work is getting to know them rather than overruling them.

Also listed

  • Existential Therapy
  • Hypnotherapy
  • Jungian Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Patrick practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Patrick's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Patrick at this point.

  2. Naming Patrick specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Patrick is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Patrick.

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Patrick

Built from what Patrick actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Patrick's - Patrick has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “With 44 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

    Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LCSW
Licensed in
Missouri
Licence
MO LCSW 000602
Licence number
000602
Licence expires
30 Sep 2027
NPI
1255999231
Years in practice
44
Gender
Male
Languages
English
International clients
Accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Patrick's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 7 Nov 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Patrick. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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