*Patty Shirley, psychotherapist and founder of East Bay Christian Counseling & Neurofeedback, in her Shadelands Walnut Woods office.*

Patty Shirley is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), as well as a Registered Addiction Specialist and Certified Clinical Trauma Counselor. Hers has been a personal journey, having entered the field of addiction in 2005 after experiencing addiction chaos around her and feeling the impact of the addiction of family and friends on her own life.

“I was surrounded by the addictions of others and curious about how to deal with the effects of that on me,” said Patty. “That got me into the field of addiction, where I worked for ten years as a registered addiction specialist and counselor, ultimately becoming the director of several programs and having been given the opportunity to develop programs.”

By 2015, it became apparent that she would not be able to treat addiction the way she felt it needed to be treated—more holistically than what was standard. So Patty went back to school and became an LMFT and LPCC, earning several credentials and specialized certifications in mental health through the years.

“In many ways, I’ve become a specialist because of my training and education, but also because of my life experience,” said Patty. “Unfortunately, I know addiction and issues of mental health more than I’d like to. But now, I can’t imagine doing any other work. My personal experiences have led me to this and that’s why I am so passionate about coming alongside others.”

Patty was trained and mentored at a group practice in San Ramon starting in 2015. She launched her own private practice in Danville in 2018, East Bay Christian Counseling. She has now expanded her practice with a second office in Shadelands, which she opened in June 2024. In addition to addiction and trauma, she sees clients for a number of life altering mental health and relationship issues including anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and bipolar disorder, among others.

*Patty gives her clients tools to work through their difficult thought processes toward a better understanding of how to calm, regulate, and move forward.*

“I work within the family dynamic,” said Patty, “Having been trained in the field of addiction, which is a disease that affects the entire family, my training in the family modality has been critical. Many families have challenges and conflicts within that system. My primary clients, whether it’s for addiction or trauma or something else, are those who are willing and wanting change.”

Patty’s Shadelands office is a soothing, calming, welcoming space, with large picture windows that look out onto the groomed grounds and mature landscaping of the Walnut Woods Professional Park at 309 Lennon Lane.

*“We’re on an exploration together,” said Patty. “It’s their exploration that we’re on, with my counsel, but not by my direction.”*

While she tailors her treatment for the individual client, Patty primarily utilizes talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and somatic experiencing (a body-oriented therapeutic model) for healing trauma and other stress disorders. Though most people may be unfamiliar with the terms and modalities, Patty’s work is “all about tapping into our nervous system and our God-given healing ability, being able to better understand what’s going on and why things are affecting us they way they are, and discovering how to calm our nervous system down,” she said.

Last year, Patty added Attuned Neurofeedback (a specific model within the field of neurofeedback) into her practice, which is the reason she opened her Shadelands office and rebranded as East Bay Christian Counseling & Neurofeedback. She has an entire room devoted to neurofeedback therapy.

While talk therapy is a process in which clients explore their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during sessions with Patty, neurofeedback brings technology into the treatment, encouraging and teaching the brain to re-regulate itself to more stable and optimal brain wave activity for better overall health.

Patty’s Shadelands office has a room devoted to neurofeedback therapy where clients are connected to a computer monitor with electrodes to record brain wave activity in response to audible and visual cues.

This is achieved through the use of computer video games where clients use only their brains, no hand-held controller, to respond to audible and visual cues and feedback on the monitor. Non-invasive electrodes attached to the head record the brain's activity during the video game; brain wave activity is translated into immediate feedback incorporated into the game.

*Patty monitors the client’s brain waves and reactions to the prompts and feedback.*

While the client is connected to the computer via electrodes, Patty is at her computer, monitoring the client’s brain waves and reactions to the prompts and feedback.

Neurofeedback training games promote neural growth, enhancing the brain's ability to learn and adapt in productive and beneficial ways with no drugs, prescriptions, or medications. Over time, clients learn to train and re-regulate their brains and their reactions to outside triggers and stresses.

Talk therapy and neurofeedback are collaborative modalities—that is, both emphasize a partnership between Patty and her clients, where both contribute to the process and goals.

Patty’s approach to mental health and healing is greatly influenced by her Christian faith, so much so that she makes that known in the name of her practice, East Bay Christian Counseling. By no means exclusive of other faiths or nonbelievers, Patty sees her faith as one more resource for connection and healing she can call on if her clients ask.

“I give opportunities to clients to integrate as much or as little spirituality as they want into their work with me. Some clients are of a different faith; others want no spirituality. It’s one hundred percent up to my clients,” said Patty, who describes herself not as a Christian therapist, but as a therapist who is a Christian. “I’m not doing Biblical counseling. This is simply one more part of me that I’m offering to others in order to help them heal, if they want it.”

The very act of living presents challenges for most people. For many, those challenges come with great uncertainty. “When people don’t know where to turn or how to process what’s going on,” said Patty, “their thoughts become difficult to manage, which leads to confusion, worry, fear, and sometimes anger. I’m able to give people tools to work through those thought processes toward a better understanding of how to move forward. My goal is to empower them so they’re living their lives well and confidently on their own.”

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