Background

 

          Shelly Sowell counsels and creates from an integrated wellness approach that includes developmental, relational-cultural, and body-centered models of therapy and healing. She attended graduate school and trained at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, where she went on to work as a psychotherapist with students, faculty, and staff and oversaw a campus-wide suicide prevention program. After Nashville, Shelly moved to Miami, Florida, where she worked for the Institute for Child & Family Health, and later joined the Mind Spectrum Institute, a group psychotherapy and wellness practice.  In addition, she co-created a Mindful Living program for an independent school in Miami, which involved teaching Mindfulness-Based Life Skills to students, training faculty in mindfulness and inner resilience practices, and creating programs for parents.  Shelly also ran spirituality therapy groups for Oliver-Pyatt Center, an eating disorder residential treatment center in South Miami.

 

           In 2010 Shelly opened a mindfulness-based wellness practice Los Angeles, California, where she provided contract services for local schools, businesses, and community agencies.  In 2012 Shelly joined local wellness experts in creating an integrative wellness community center, LYFE Wellness, in Hermosa Beach. At LYFE she lead an adult program called The LYFE Practice and she worked with a youth program devoted to training tweens, teens and their families in mindfulness-based life skills.  Shelly has been involved in several schools and organizations in the LA community.  She taught at Peace 4 Kids, an organization that provides programs and services for foster and at-risk youth from South Los Angeles neighborhoods.  She has also helped with the Inner Kids Program, which provides training to schools and clinicians in mindfulness practices for children and young adults. 

 

           In 2014 Shelly moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she continues her work with schools, community groups, and businesses, as well as working individually with teens and adults.  Shelly also continues her work traveling and creating workshops for schools, communities, & businesses across the country.  Shelly recently became a speaker for Vistage Worldwide, Inc. She is a Founding Partner for the Center for Integrative Learning & Teaching in Nashville, Tennessee, which provides mindfulness-based workshops and retreats.  

 

           Shelly has worked with community agencies, public and private schools, non-profits for underprivileged families, colleges and universities, corporations, independent businesses, and eating disorder residential treatment centers. She is passionate about helping people bring deeper awareness and balance to their lives, in order to create more meaningful and inspired living.  Shelly holds a License in Professional Clinical Counselor in the state of Kentucky, and is a National Certified Counselor.

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Mindfulness Practitioner

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            Mindfulness is present moment awareness that assists in witnessing and experiencing life in a responsive and compassionate way.  Engaging in mindfulness practices helps one to develop a state of peace in the midst of chaos, as it increases skills to observe fully one's inner and outer experience and creates clarity of the mind for enhanced perspective and effective decision making.  Among many researched benefits, mindfulness practices help reduce stress, increase attention and concentration, increase one’s ability to empathize with others and help with pain management.  Regular practice can help one to become grounded and more open to intuitive wisdom and creativity, which helps cultivate inner strength and helps one to be responsive rather than reactive to the world.  Shelly's practice and instruction of mindfulness is through the lenses of developmental, relational-cultural, humanistic, and body-centered psychotherapy traditions. These approaches share a common thread of forming an empathic and empowering relationship with the client while creating a safe space for healing through authentic presence.  This present moment approach is the perfect ground from which to introduce mindfulness practices that can significantly enhance one’s wellness and wholeness. 

 

            A special thank you to Kenneth Robinson, creator of Yoga for the Emotional Body, for being Shelly's primary teacher for over a decade. Also a special thank you to Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child and creator of The Inner Kids Program, for her generous mentoring and guidance in working with children.  Shelly has also enjoyed the privilege of studying with Dr. Daniel Siegel, Founder of The Mindsight Institute, and would like to thank him for his profound influence on the importance of connecting relationships in the healing process.   

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