I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia with roughly ten years of clinical experience working with individuals and couples. Before pursuing counseling, I served in the United States Army — an experience that shaped how I understand suffering, community, and what people are actually capable of when someone refuses to give up on them. I am grateful I was able to learn and train with some wonderful professors and therapists at the University of West Georgia in the Department of Psychology when I left active duty in 2012. My career started at Ridgeview Institute working with some great colleagues and mentors in the inpatient psychiatric and substance use units. After obtaining my full license in 2019, I worked in a private practice setting in Carrollton, Georgia. I got the opportunity to provide group therapy services for the Carroll County Superior Court system working with individuals on pretrial diversion for drug and alcohol related offenses.
In 2023, my family and I decided to move back to Atlanta. After sadly closing my private practice in Carrollton, I got an opportunity to work with the Emory Addiction Center. I’m extraordinarily grateful for the time I spent with that team before finding my way back to private practice in Atlanta.
My foundation is Person-Centered and Motivational Interviewing — both descendants of Carl Rogers’ work and his conviction that the therapeutic relationship itself is the mechanism of change. I hold an existential lens internally as a map for understanding people’s experience. For couples work, I utilize the Gottman Method, which is well-researched and aligns with my clinical values.
I’m not here to tell you what “better” looks like or to hand you a script for your life. Your life is yours to make. You are in the pilot’s seat. I’m not a passenger and I’m not trying to take the controls — but I am going to be an honest co-pilot. That means I’ll tell you what I see, even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially then.
The one thing I do require, of anyone I sit with, is a genuine willingness to look at yourself. Not perfectly — I’m not looking for anyone who has it figured out. Just honest. The work tends to go somewhere when that’s present.
If you’re curious about how I think about psychotherapy more broadly — where I believe it comes from and what it actually is — I’ve written about it here.
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) — Georgia, License #LPC011136
- MA in Psychology — University of West Georgia, 2016
- BA in History — Auburn University, 2008
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy, Level 2
- U.S. Army, Captain (O3), Honorably Discharged 2017 — Active Duty 2008–2012 with service in Afghanistan (OEF-X), Georgia Army National Guard 2012–2017
While I was at school, I had the opportunity to help conduct research on cluster headaches with some wonderful mentors. We published a few papers together, and I’m proud of the work we did.
- Pearson, S.M., Burish, M.J., Shapiro, R.E., Yan, Y. and Schor, L.I. (2019). Effectiveness of Oxygen and Other Acute Treatments for Cluster Headache: Results From the Cluster Headache Questionnaire, an International Survey. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 59: 235–249. doi:10.1111/head.13473
- Burish, M.J., Pearson, S.M., Shapiro, R.E., Zhang, W. and Schor, L.I. (2020). Oxygen as the Optimal Acute Medication for Cluster Headache: A Comment and Additional Validation Step From the Cluster Headache Questionnaire. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 60: 2592–2593. doi:10.1111/head.13954
- Burish, M.J., Pearson, S.M., Shapiro, R.E., Zhang, W. and Schor, L.I. (2021). Cluster headache is one of the most intensely painful human conditions: Results from the International Cluster Headache Questionnaire. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 61: 117–124. doi:10.1111/head.14021
- Schor, L.I., Pearson, S.M., Shapiro, R.E., Zhang, W., Miao, H. and Burish, M.J. (2021). Cluster headache epidemiology including pediatric onset, sex, and ICHD criteria: Results from the International Cluster Headache Questionnaire. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 61: 1511–1520. doi:10.1111/head.14237