January Clinician Spotlight: Shelly Banks (she/they/any)
As the new year has started, we’d like to highlight a clinician that is new to our practice: Shelden “Shelly” Banks, MSW (she/they/any). Shelly completed a dual Master’s in both Social Work and Business Administration, and will be leading our Q/T Resilience Group that is starting back up at the end of this month at our Kennesaw office. Shelly uses the therapeutic modalities of Narrative Therapy, Queer Narrative Approaches, Queer Theories, Social-Constructionist Theories, Systems Theories, and Transformative Justice. Read below to get to know more about Shelly!
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Hi there, I’m Shelly (she/they/any). I am a white, queer social worker and clinical therapist. I’m also a huge nerd, a cat mom, an avid reader, a sweet-tea lover, and whole human being in my own right. I enjoy working with folks who sit at the margins of society and folks who are going through major transitions. I love helping to empower others to find agency in writing their own stories.
In addition to my work as a clinical therapist, I also engage in activism and community work that focuses on protecting and uplifting gender, sexual, and relational minorities. I believe that supporting clients holistically means looking beyond the one-on-one we do in the therapy room to the systems that impact all of us.
When did you first know that you wanted to pursue this career path/how have your interests and passions developed over time?
My passion for service developed at a young age in an entirely different context. As a white person in the South, I grew up with a lot of well-meaning-but-misguided ideas about the world. It took a lot of work to figure out how to disentangle myself enough to listen to people who weren’t like me. It took even more work to figure out what real help actually looks like.
I’ve never been able to settle on doing just one thing - I’ve been a theatre technician, a farmhand, an Americorps VISTA, a barista, a researcher, and more! I chose to become a clinically-focused social worker because it allows me to work with people in a lot of different contexts. I love the deep work I can do by focusing on one person in the therapy space, and I love the broad impact I can have by advocating for my community
Do you have any creative outlets or interests? Tell us about them!
I have a soft-spot for the lesser-known sports of the world. I used to play beater on a quadball team. Now, I love hearing about the fun and wacky ways people spend their time from hobby horsing to Microsoft Excel Esports.
Which of GWB’s values do you feel connected to? Why?
Though I aspire to live into all of our values, it feels important to highlight Community.
I don’t think any of us can truly go it alone. We need each other if we want to thrive and be resilient. It is so easy for us to feel isolated - like no one else understands or that we don’t deserve connection - but I believe that we all have an important role in our communities.
What is your go-to coffee or tea order?
Cold brew and iced tea all day!
If anything here resonated with you and you’d like to connect, you can reach out to me here!
