Shirley Cayko, LCSW

Shirley Cayko is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensed in Montana with 18 years of professional experience. She focuses on stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, motivation, self-esteem, confidence, and coping with life changes. Shirley speaks English and works with adults on common and complex life concerns.

Her approach is practical and person-centered. She uses client-centered methods to listen and understand what matters to each person. She also draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to identify patterns of thinking and behavior. Mindfulness and dialectical behavior ideas are part of her toolkit for managing strong emotions and building new skills.

In sessions she aims for clear, direct conversation about what is going on now and what people want to change. Shirley helps people set small, manageable goals and practices new ways of responding to stress. She talks about concrete steps rather than abstract theories.

Her experience includes long-term work with mood concerns such as depression and bipolar disorder, grief and loss, and relationship issues. She also addresses chronic health and caregiver stress, aging and geriatric concerns, and immigration-related issues. Shirley is familiar with trauma-focused work and supports people who have experienced abuse.

Shirley uses a mix of therapeutic styles depending on the situation. She and a client will decide together which methods to use. To begin, a simple matching questionnaire and an initial session are used to plan the next steps.

How Shirley uses therapeutic approaches in online work