Shannon Anderson is the Owner and Clinical Director of Tender Hearts Child Therapy Center. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in children, adolescents, and families. Areas of his expertise include anxiety, depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, adjustment issues, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, defiance, and school related problems.
Shannon is certified as a Parent Management Training Clinician in the Kazdin MethodTM (KPMT). Parent Management Training in the Kazdin Method™ was developed through research over a period of more than 30 years by Dr. Alan Kazdin – John Musser Professor of Psychology at Yale University and director of the Yale Parenting Center. PMT is considered one of the primary Evidenced-Based Treatments for children and teens from 3 to 14 years old with oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behaviors. Parent Management Training (PMT) has been selected by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) as the only well established treatment for Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder for children in this age group.
Additionally, as an expert Child Counselor Shannon has sought intensive training in Problem Solving Skills Training (PSST), another Evidenced-Based Treatment for children and teens. PSST teaches children and teens how to systematically solve problems, thus resulting in a reduction in impulsive decisions that often have negative consequences for the child or teen.
Shannon has also completed a training study with the Missouri Therapy Network in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). TF-CBT has been found to be an effective method of treatment for children and teens struggling with issues related to grief, loss, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from sexual and physical abuse, and various other causes of childhood trauma.
Shannon is a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, a designation conferred by the Association for Play Therapy. To earn this designation, Shannon completed 150 clock hours of play therapy training, five years and 5,000 hours of post-master’s clinical experience, and 500 supervised and 500 additional hours of play therapy experience. This is very specialized training and requires continued Professional Development hours, which keep Shannon on the cutting edge of the field as an expert Child Counselor.
Shannon has been the owner and Clinical Director of Tender Hearts since August of 2010. He has worked in a Children’s Residential Treatment Facility and in several community agency positions serving the needs of children and their families in the Southeast Missouri area. He specializes as a Child Counselor, providing Child Counseling, Teen Counseling and Family Counseling at the Cape Girardeau office.
Shannon’s passion is working with the children and families he serves. Shannon continually strives to maintain the highest ethical standards for himself and for the staff at Tender Hearts Child Therapy Center. He enjoys attending Professional Development workshops and reading Professional Books and other materials related to various topics pertaining to child and family counseling. Whenever he “sneaks away” from the office, Shannon enjoys being outdoors hiking, fishing, hunting, and spending “family time” with his wife and daughter.