Shelley Hill
Practical, compassionate therapy for relationship and life strain
LCSW Illinois
- Experience
- 25 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Grief
- Approaches
- Gottman Method, Hypnotherapy
- Languages
- English
About Shelley
Shelley Hill is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 25 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and relationship difficulties. She works with concerns like intimacy problems, addiction, low self-esteem, ADHD, sleep and eating struggles, and caregiver or compassion fatigue.
Background and approach
Shelley aims to create a calm, straightforward place to talk and think through what feels overwhelming. Her style mixes listening with practical tools.
She believes many thoughts and feelings come from below conscious awareness, so therapy often includes ways to work with body responses and deeper patterns, not just talk. Shelley uses approaches such as the Gottman Method, mindfulness, somatic techniques, solution-focused work, and hypnotherapy when appropriate.
Sessions are collaborative and down-to-earth. Clients can expect both gentle exploration and clear, goal-oriented steps when needed.
Shelley emphasizes compassion, presence, and occasional well-placed humor to make change feel doable. She has spent decades helping people navigate life transitions, grief, relationship strain, and chronic health or caregiver stress.
That experience informs how she tailors tools to each person’s situation and pace. Shelley practices in Illinois as an LCSW.
She values the effort it takes to start therapy and aims to make each session useful and relevant to daily life.
How therapy approaches translate to online care
Gottman Method work focuses on improving communication, managing conflict, and building emotional connection through specific conversation and behavior strategies that can be practiced in sessions and at home. It is useful for people dealing with relationship tension and intimacy concerns.Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and manage stress and anxiety. These skills help when emotions feel overwhelming and can be woven into short exercises during online meetings.
Somatic Therapy pays attention to bodily sensations and movement to release held stress and trauma. It often uses grounding, breathing, and gentle body awareness exercises that translate well to video or phone work.
Choosing the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and what feels most helpful, and together they will try options and adjust based on what works. This collaborative stance helps tailor sessions to each person’s needs.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for face-to-face conversation and practicing interaction skills. Phone sessions work well for lower bandwidth or when being off-camera helps focus. Live chat and messaging can be useful for short check-ins, brief coping strategies, or ongoing support between sessions. These options make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into busy schedules.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
25+ years
Licensed in
Illinois
Languages
English