Selena Shelley

Selena is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a psychotherapy and trauma survivor consultation practice in the Seattle area. She specializes in working with mothers, pregnant and postpartum trauma survivors, and families whose children experienced prenatal substance exposure.  In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Selena is a When Survivors Give Birth Approved Trainer and offers training and consultation for perinatal professionals on working with trauma survivors during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. She also serves on the Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth (PATTCh) board.
Selena has been working with pregnant, birthing, and postpartum families for over twenty years – first as a counselor with teen parents, then as a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth and parenting educator, and now as a psychotherapist. She also served on the Open Arms Perinatal Services board and helped develop and run their Birth Doula Services Program.

In all of her work, Selena has witnessed how transformative the right kind of support and care can be for birthing people, especially trauma survivors. To that end, she believes training professionals how to work more easily and effectively with trauma survivors is some of the most important work in maternal health and is honored to be teaching future midwives at her alma mater Bastyr.

Selena’s professional interests include maternal and child health; perinatal psychology; health disparities; community building; and reproductive justice. When not working, Selena enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, extended family, and friends.  Board games, concerts, travel, volunteering at her children’s school, and learning to practice what she preaches about self-care are some of her favorite pastimes.

Education:

Master’s Degree in Applied Behavioral Science (Systems Counseling) – Leadership Institute of Seattle/Bastyr University, 2002

Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with a Minor in Economics & Women’s Studies – Brandeis University, 1999