Shanika Lavi Wilson (she/her)

LCSW, LCAS
Accepting Clients

I'm Shanika Lavi Wilson, DSW, LCSW, LCAS, with over 15 years of clinical experience. You do not have to have it all together to start therap

Clinical Social Worker in North Carolina
Supervised by LCSW

Services
  • Individual
  • Couples
  • Family
  • Group

About My Clients

My clients come from all walks of life. They are students, professionals, parents, and people who have simply reached a point where they know something needs to change. Some have been in therapy before. Others are walking through that door for the first time.What they share is this: they are ready to do the work. They want a therapist who listens without judgment, understands that life is complicated, and meets them exactly where they are.

My Background and Approach

I am a licensed clinical social worker with more than 15 years of experience in mental health, higher education, and clinical practice. I hold an active license in North Carolina, Delaware, and South Carolina. I am also a professor and a published author, and I bring that depth of knowledge directly into my clinical work. My approach centers your whole self. That means your culture, your history, your body, and your story all have a place in our work together. I do not separate your identity from your symptoms. Depression looks different in a Black woman than it does in a textbook. Anxiety in a first-generation student carries pressures that standard treatment models rarely account for. I was trained to see that difference, and I build treatment around it.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

I believe every person deserves a therapist who takes them seriously. Not a therapist who fits them into a category, but one who actually listens. I became a clinician because I saw too many people go without care, not because they did not need it, but because the system made it too hard to access. That stays with me in every session. I am a researcher and a professor. I read the literature on bias in diagnosis. I know how depression presents differently across cultures, how anxiety gets mislabeled, and how race, gender, and class shape the way distress is expressed and ignored. That knowledge belongs in the therapy room. I believe therapy should feel like a conversation, not an evaluation. My clients do not sit across from a clipboard. They sit across from a person who is paying close attention. Outside of clinical work, I write and teach. I think about mental health equity the way some people think about their morning coffee. It is the first thing on my mind.

Techniques I Use

Specialties
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Narrative Therapy Somatic Therapy: Body-Based Healing for Emotional Trauma
Other Techniques
  • Addiction Counseling
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Family Systems
  • Family Therapy
  • Gottman Method Couples Therapy
  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Solution Focused Brief Therapy
  • Brainspotting
  • Cognitive Processing Therapy
  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

Issues I Treat

Specialties
Anxiety Depression Self-Esteem
Other Issues
  • Addiction
  • ADHD Therapists
  • Aging Concerns
  • Burnout
  • Cancer
  • Divorce
  • Family Conflict
  • Historical/ Intergenerational Trauma
  • Marriage Counseling
  • Racial Identity
  • Relationship Issues
  • Women's Issues
Insurance Plans Accepted
  • Aetna
  • Cigna
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS)
  • Carelon
  • Quest Behavioral Health
I offer online counseling in the following states:

At A Glance

  • Experience: 17 years of practice
  • Languages: English
  • Rate: $120 - 150/session

Reach out to Shanika Lavi