Shea Davis, AMFT
Therapist for Partners Living with Uncertainty, Confusion, and Emotional Pain
You don’t have to keep guessing what's real.
I help individuals and partners make sense of difficult relationship dynamics—especially when one person feels chronically unseen, invalidated, or blamed for the distress in the relationship.
My Story: A Relationship That Left Me Questioning Myself
Before I became a therapist, I spent 24 years in a marriage that often felt like a puzzle I couldn’t solve.
My partner was neurodivergent—brilliant, loyal, and loving in his own way—but our emotional worlds rarely lined up. I would express hurt, and he’d respond with logic. I’d seek closeness, and he’d retreat into silence.
Over time, the disconnection wore me down. I began to doubt my perceptions, minimize my needs, and carry more than my share of the emotional load.
I didn’t have language for what was happening—I just knew that something was deeply off.
There were moments of warmth, of shared goals and family life that looked fine from the outside. But inside the relationship, I felt alone. My attempts to bridge the gap were often met with defensiveness or confusion, and I internalized the message that I was “too emotional,” “too needy,” or simply impossible to please.
That slow erosion of relational safety and mutuality is what eventually brought me to therapy—not just as a client, but as a calling.
Parenting Through Disconnection and Challenge
I’m the mother of two grown children, now 29 and 22.
One of my children struggled significantly in school, in relationships, and in a world that didn’t seem to know what to do with his sensitivity and complexity.
I often found myself in the role of interpreter—translating between systems and my child, between emotional breakdowns and practical next steps.
That journey refined my capacity to hold grief, to stay with hard truths, and to parent without a script.
Recovery and the Work of Rebuilding
Years ago, I entered a 12-step program broken by addiction, betrayal, and emotional exhaustion.
Recovery didn’t just change my habits—it transformed how I related to myself. I learned to identify what was mine and what wasn’t. I learned to set boundaries, trust my inner knowing, and stop contorting myself to meet someone else’s emotional limits.
That clarity is something I now help my clients find in their own lives.
The Aftermath: Betrayal, Isolation, and Starting Over
I’ve lived through the slow unraveling of a relationship, financial betrayal, and emotional gaslighting.
I’ve felt the pain of loving someone who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—acknowledge harm. I’ve rebuilt my life as a single mother, navigated complex family dynamics, and re-entered the world with my eyes wide open.
My blended family today isn’t perfect, but it’s honest, intentional, and anchored in mutual respect. These experiences shape how I sit with clients who are navigating confusion, doubt, and deep relational fatigue.
Working with Partners Who Feel Invisible or Dismissed
If you're in a relationship where your reality is questioned or your emotions are labeled as "too much," you may be caught in a painful dynamic that leaves you doubting yourself.
I know what it’s like to long for emotional closeness while being met with defensiveness or detachment. You may not even be sure what’s happening—you just know something is profoundly off.
In our work together, I help you:
-
Untangle what’s happening in your relationship—both the surface patterns and the deeper emotional injuries
-
Identify your own needs, boundaries, and truth—even if you’ve lost touch with them
-
Learn how to stop over-functioning, over-explaining, or internalizing blame
-
Rebuild trust in your own perceptions, intuition, and nervous system
-
Understand patterns like emotional shutdown, blame-shifting, and circular conversations
I bring a trauma-informed lens, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS) to this work.
But more than anything, I bring my ability to sit with the painful complexity of loving someone who can’t meet you where you are.
Parenting When You're the Anchor
If you’re holding the emotional center of the family, often alone, I see you.
During my own parenting years, I was the emotional container, the crisis manager, and the constant interpreter.
That kind of parenting—especially in a household marked by relational tension—can leave you depleted, unseen, and full of quiet grief.
I support parents who are:
-
Carrying the emotional weight of the family dynamic
-
Parenting through chaos, conflict, or emotional unpredictability
-
Trying to shield their children from confusing or inconsistent co-parenting
-
Grieving the loss of the family story they hoped to write
-
Breaking intergenerational patterns while navigating day-to-day survival
You don’t have to parent from a place of exhaustion and guilt. You can reorient toward clarity, strength, and self-trust—and I can help you get there.
Supporting Blended Families with Complex Histories
After my marriage ended, I stepped into the complicated world of blending families with history, heartbreak, and high emotional stakes.
In my own family, we faced mismatches in communication, trust, and emotional expression. We had to build slowly, repair often, and accept that connection doesn’t come from force—it comes from creating room for truth.
If you're navigating a second-chapter family, I can help you:
-
Set realistic expectations for stepparenting and shared parenting
-
Clarify shifting roles and address unspoken loyalty binds
-
Repair relational ruptures with kids, former partners, or new spouses
-
Build a new family culture based on honesty, not performance
Blended families can be places of profound healing—when we allow each person to show up fully, without needing to erase their past.
Healing After Addiction, Chaos, and Emotional Turmoil
Addiction doesn’t just wound the person using—it wounds the entire relationship system.
In my own life, recovery taught me how to stop numbing and start feeling again. It also taught me how to stop absorbing someone else’s chaos as if it were mine to fix.
If your relationship has been touched by addiction or emotional chaos, I can help you:
-
Rebuild a grounded relationship with yourself, separate from the other person’s story
-
Address boundary confusion, codependency, and caretaking patterns
-
Grieve what was lost to the addiction—time, trust, or a sense of safety
-
Reclaim your voice, your space, and your clarity
You don’t have to hold everything together anymore. You get to step into healing that centers you.
Who I Work With
-
Partners who feel unseen, dismissed, or emotionally starved in their relationship
-
Individuals recovering from betrayal, emotional invalidation, or prolonged gaslighting
-
Parents trying to stay grounded for their children amid relational turmoil
-
Women rebuilding after addiction, abandonment, or emotional burnout
-
Adults navigating second-chapter relationships and complex family systems
What I Bring
I bring lived experience. I bring depth, nuance, and an unwavering belief that your story matters.
I know what it’s like to feel erased inside your own relationship. My therapy space is honest, compassionate, and attuned to the pain of not being met.
You don’t have to keep performing. You don’t have to keep doubting yourself.
I’ll help you find your way back to solid ground.