Aurora Mental Health Center (2015)

Fellowship, Chambers Outpatient Team, Older Adult Program, Colorado Refugee Wellness Center

University of Denver (2014)

Doctorate, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Clinical Psychology

University of Denver (2012)

Master’s, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Clinical Psychology

University of Denver (2007)

Bachelor’s, Psychology

 

 

Shane Spears, Psy.D.

Supervisor

shane.spears@birchpsychology.com | 303.834.1026 ext. 13

Dr. Shane Spears is a clinical psychologist with a diverse range of training and work experience in the Denver metro area. He has provided treatment and services to individuals throughout the life span at several different levels of care including outpatient, day treatment, and residential.  His specialty areas and populations are children of elementary, middle, and high school ages and their families. Specifically, Dr. Spears is adept in addressing behavioral concerns, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, trauma, and grief.  He employs an integrative approach in his practice that considers both the individual and the systems to which that individual belongs (i.e. families, schools, etc.). He also does parent training and coaching. Dr. Spears has experience working with evidenced based practices including behavioral interventions, play therapy, psychodynamic approaches, cognitive approaches, and trauma focused-cognitive behavioral therapy. 

Dr. Spears completed his post-doctoral residency at Aurora Mental Health Center serving on rotations that included work with children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and refugee populations. Prior to this, Dr. Spears fulfilled his pre-doctoral clinical internship at Denver Children’s Home working in the residential, day treatment, school based, and intensive outpatient programs. 

Dr. Spears provides therapy and assessment services to children ages seven and older, adolescents, and families at Birch Psychology. His approach involves the belief that individuals have strengths before ever seeking services and the purpose of therapy is to capitalize on those strengths. He works collaboratively with those he serves and his colleagues to realize the full potential both individuals and systems can achieve with the right support. Dr. Spears also provides supervision to trainees at Birch. Dr. Spears can be reached at shane.spears@birchpsychology.com and 303.834.1026 ext. 13.

Specialties:

Testing- ADHD Assessments, Psychoeducational Assessments

Therapy- CBT, Anxiety, Depression, Parent Training, ADHD, Grief and Loss, Trauma

Featured Blog Posts
Transitioning into Spring

A number of weeks ago we covered seasonal affective disorder (SAD), often called seasonal depression. Often, when people think of seasonal depression, they think of winter, with its lack of hours of daylight and the cold keeping us inside. You might imagine that, regardless of whether or not someone has SAD, that spring is a time for growing as a person and “spring cleaning” your mind. Both of these can be true, however, it’s important to recognize the pressure that putting those expectations on yourself and others can lead to.

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Who is the Person Sitting Next to You?

There is something inherently unique to each and every one of us: our identity. Or, is it our identities? The idea of intersectionality is one that has started to pick up more eyes and ears as time goes on, and is one that is such an inherently cool concept. Think about it: we all have different aspects of ourselves that we share with others, perhaps it is your gender or your age or your race. We all have multiple different identities as well, like being a 40-year-old woman, or a non-binary individual whose religious identity is important to them. Put these two facts together along with our own experiences, and we are our own unique and inimitable selves.

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Why Can’t I Get This Done?: ADHD and Self-Esteem

It often feels like, to me, that most people have heard of and have a general understanding of ADHD, but that they don’t necessarily know what ADHD is or what it is like to have. William Dodson, MD, a psychiatrist and author posits that children who have ADHD will, by the age of 12, “receive 20,000 more negative messages from parents, teachers, and other adults than their friends and siblings who do not have ADHD.” Being one of the most common mental disorders that affects children, one would think that we would have an easier and more effective time treating individuals with ADHD. This, however, as noted by William Dodson, is often far from the truth.

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Group Therapy: You Don't Have To Go it Alone

What do you think of when you hear the word “therapy?” What kind of setting do you picture? Chances are high that you probably picture two individuals across from each other talking. While that can be what therapy looks like, it doesn’t always have to look like that. Group therapy can often provide certain benefits that you don’t get from individual therapy.

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The Case of the Winter (and Summer) Blues

Spring is almost upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with that means a few more sunny days and hours of sunlight, something that I’m sure a lot of us have been counting down the days for. You might have heard about seasonal depression, also sometimes referred to as the “winter blues,” but did you know that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is something that is actually recognized in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)?

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