Shannon Dammann Downs, Psy.D., CMT

With a solid foundation of diverse training and over 15 years of experience, Dr. Shannon Downs tailors each session to meet the individual needs of her cients. She offers a deep respect for each person’s inner wisdom and views her role in the psycho-therapeutic process as a co-facilitator of the natural healing abilities of the mind and body. Working from Humanistic and Systemic perspectives, her approach to psychotherapy seeks to understand people based on the contexts from which they come and in which they are currently living.  By fostering therapeutic relationships founded on understanding and acceptance, she creates a safe place for the challenges of growth, healing and change.

Dr. Downs' areas of specialty include: personal growth and development; couples therapy; family therapy; working with adolescents and helping families transition successfully through the teenage years; trauma and abuse recovery; and integrated bodywork. 

As a clinical psychologist and a certified massage therapist, Dr. Downs utilitzes an integrative approach to therapy that honors the whole of the mind, body and spirit.  In addition to practicing traditional experiential, humanistic and systems oriented psychotherapy, she also offers a blended, integrative body-work approach to therapy for certain clients that request this type of work. Shannon frequently works in conjunction with other psychotherapists, providing bodywork as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Dr. Downs graduated from the Atlanta School of Massage in 1994 and she completed her Doctorate of Psychology in 1998. Her dissertation research focused on “the ethical use of touch in psychotherapy".  She has delivered many talks and trainings on a variety of topics including the prevention and treatment of childhood abuse, approaches to body oriented therapy, ethics and the use of touch in psychotherapy, family therapy approaches, and working with couples around a history of childhood abuse. She is available for workshops and trainings on related topics.

Some possible goals and benefits of psychotherapy include:

- Increase your sense of personal integrity on both conscious and unconscious levels

- Feel more effective, authentic and genuine in your thoughts and actions

- Acquire the peace of mind that comes from personal honesty and accountability

- Learn to cope more effectively with stress

- Improve communication skills and deepen connection and intimacy in your relationship(s)

- Differentiate yourself from your family of origin and reconnect with them in healthier ways

- Work through pain, grief and emptiness to transform hopelessness and helplessness into joy and fullness of life

- Improve your ability to manage and express anger in healthy ways

- Relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression

- Recovery from recent or childhood abuse or trauma

- Recovery from addictions

- Learn to control, manage and, sometimes, eliminate obsessions and compulsive behaviors

Therapeutic Massage and Integrated Bodywork...

... can often expedite both physical and psychological healing for people who suffer from many different types of trauma and disorders. These include: depression, anxiety, fatigue, addictions, body-image concerns, eating disorders, and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.   By providing a safe, supportive environment for experiencing positive, non-sexual, nurturing touch, the client is allowed a therapeutic opportunity to reconnect with the physical body and emotions in positive ways.

Basic therapeutic massage differs from Integrated Bodywork in many ways. Although both are designed to soothe and heal emotional and physical pain, massage therapy does not include psychotherapy in the treatment session. Integrative Bodywork is a form of psychotherapy that involves a blending of psychological support and intervention with therapeutic touch. Thus, more time is allowed for depthful emotional preparation and processing of the clients psychological needs and experiences during an Integrated Bodywork session than is available in during a therapeutic massage session.

Integrated Bodywork may initially involve non-touch work that allows the client to focus attention on physical experiences and reactions to emotional material. Therapeutic touch will be utilized only when the therapist and client have determined that it is in the client's best interest for psychotherapeutic healing and growth. Forms of touch that may be utilized range from a simple laying on of hands and energy work to deep tissue therapeutic massage treatments for specific concerns.

At no time will any form of aggressive touch or sexual touch be utilized or tolerated in this therapeutic context. Although your therapist may suggest various options for therapeutic work, it is important that the client feel ultimately in control of the direction and pace of any massage or bodywork session. If you are seeking massage or bodywork as an avenue for healing from trauma, be sure to discuss this goal with your therapist(s) so that your sessions can be tailored to meet your individual needs for comfort, safety and healing. You may choose to work with one therapist that does blended work, or you may prefer to work with a psychotherapist who does not do bodywork and then see a massage therapist as an adjunct to your psychotherapy work.

"As our lives unfold, our biological health becomes a living, breathing biographical statement that conveys our strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and fears. Every thought you have had has traveled through your biological system and activated a physiological response. Some thoughts are like depth charges, causing a reaction throughout the body. A fear, for instance, activates every system of your body: your stomach may tighten, your heart race, you may break into a sweat. A loving thought can relax your entire body. Some thoughts are more subtle, and still others are unconscious. Some may have little or no meaning and pass through the body like wind through a screen, requiring no conscious attention, and their influence upon our health is minimal. Yet each thought generates a physiological response. Those that carry emotional, mental, psychological or spiritual energy produce biological responses that are then stored in our cellular memory. It is in this way that our physical and psychological systems are woven together gradually, slowly, every day." (paraphrased from "Anatomy of the Spirit", by Caroline Myss, Ph.D.)

Areas of Expertise and Specialties

• Couples Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Personal Growth and Development
• Abuse and Trauma Recovery
• Women's Issues
• Hypnosis
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Parenting Guidance
• Adolescence
• Bodywork and Body focused Concerns
• Life Coaching
• Treatment of Depression and Anxiety

“As a therapist, my goal is to offer a holistic approach to the facilitation of change which promotes overall health, happiness, growth & healing for my clients. I see therapy as a pathway to experiencing an internal sense of harmony, integrity and balance.“