01 · Who Sherry works with

Sherry works with stress, Anxiety, trauma and abuse and parenting issues

Sherry lists 15 specialisms and 20 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Sherry chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Sherry's own words

What Sherry says about the work

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

To All My Prospective Clients:

Hello, I am Sherry Friedman, National l Board Certified Counselor (NCC), clinical mental health counselor licensed in Rhode Island, North Carolina, and South Carolina with twelve years of experience, and a newly author. "Midwife of the Soul: A Teaching Memoir Through the Lens of an HSP Psychotherapist" by Shira Friedman, is like three books in one. I share what life was like growing up as a highly sensitive child, teen, and adult through a series of vignettes with reflective processing following each vignette. Utilizing my own life as a template to educate my readers about neurodivergence concurrent with the highly sensitive personality type, I also encourage other HSPs to view their sensitivity as a constellation of many gifts. The book comes with an appendix of practical resources, many of which I introduce to my clients in therapy. My book is available on Amazon or where ever you buy books.

As an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person and HSP Psychotherapist), I am also listed on Dr. Elaine Aron's website: https://hsperson.com I am an Empath, Healer, and Reiki Master, and skilled at creating an emotionally safe space and building rapport with my clients. I empower my clients to discover and embrace their gifts and strengths and maintain healthy boundaries. I offer a warm, interactive counseling style and I practice "Listening with HEART" (Healing, Energy, Awareness, Resiliency, Transformation) and HeartMath coherence as a mindfulness-based treatment approach.

My clinical orientation is Jungian (transformational and psychodynamic) and my counseling approach is holistic and multi-dimensional. This means I explore my clients' biopsychosocial, emotional, environmental, cultural, energetic, spiritual, and cosmological influences that may be creating stress, anxiety, grief, emotional trauma, relationship issues, and career challenges.

The ultimate goal of all therapy is self-discovery, transformation, and moving forward as the highest, best version of ourselves. This typically involves finding one's life mission and soul purpose which involves deeper self-discovery.

Getting to the root cause of pain requires a rare form of bravery and courage to seek a more fulfilling and happier life. If you are ready to take that first step toward change, I am here to empower and support you.

Looking forward to working with you!

All the best,

Sherry Ann ("Shira") Friedman, NCC, LCMHC, HSP Psychotherapist

MA School Psychology, (Ball State University) MS Ed. - Gifted Education (Purdue University), MS Clinical Counseling (Bellevue University)

Sherry Friedman, on the BetterHelp listing · read 7 Oct 2026

03 · How Sherry works

The 11 approaches Sherry lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Sherry lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Sherry'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 Sherry runs a session.

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”.

Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT

A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.

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.

Motivational InterviewingMI

A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.

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.

Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed

CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

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

• Jungian Therapy
• Somatic Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Sherry 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 Sherry'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 Sherry at this point.

2. Naming Sherry specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Sherry 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 Sherry.

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

3 questions worth asking Sherry

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

• “You list both Dialectical Behaviour 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.

• “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

LMHC

Licensed in

North Carolina

Licence

RI LMHC MHC01614, SC LPC 9015

Licence number

12786

Licence expires

30 Jun 2027

NPI

1730627068

Years in practice

12

Gender

Female

Languages

English

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Sherry'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 Oct 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 Sherry. 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.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.