Mind-Body Integrative Psychotherapy
You’ve powered through everything—until your body said no more.
At some point, pushing through stopped working. You can still get things done when you have to. To the outside world you’re still “holding everything together.” But it costs more now. More effort, more recovery time, more strain on your wellbeing.
Your body seems to be sending you a message you can’t ignore.
Your attention is shot. Your emotions are all over the place. Sleep doesn’t restore you like it should. Your energy drops out from under you halfway through the day. You find yourself acting impulsively: overspending, overeating, making poor relationship or dating decisions. Maybe perimenopause or menopause symptoms seem to have changed everything overnight. Or maybe GI changes, joint or muscle pain, or some other new health issue have made it harder to keep up with the life you’ve built for yourself.
You find yourself wondering why things that used to feel manageable now feel disproportionally hard. It’s scary to feel like you’ve lost some basic capacity you used to have. You may doubt yourself, worry about falling behind your peers at work, or feel guilty that you can’t manage your responsibilities as a parent or caregiver. You may fear your abilities atrophying even further. You may feel anger, frustration, and resentment that your brain and body just won’t do what you need them to.
You’ve already done so much work. You’ve named the childhood wounds. You’ve read the books, done the therapy, connected the dots. You know your history. But this is something beyond what you’re used to, and you just can’t make sense of it.
It’s rarely “just ADHD.” Many of my clients are navigating a mix of overlapping pieces. Chronic stress, trauma, sleep disruption, sexual dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies, medication effects, and hormonal changes—including transitional periods like pregnancy and menopause—can all mirror or exacerbate ADHD symptoms. And when you’re already frazzled and at your limit, disentangling it all can feel next to impossible.
What Sets This Work Apart
My work is all about helping you do that disentangling. Together, we can figure out what’s happening, what’s causing what, and what needs attention first.
My involvement in research on health disparities began more than 20 years ago, as an undergraduate student. Since then I’ve gained a doctorate and become a licensed psychologist, but my background in medical psychology, trauma recovery, and health disparities still informs every session with my clients today. I look beyond the individual to the bigger picture. This means integrating the brain and body with the environmental, medical, and relational factors that impact your daily functioning and overall well-being.
In practice, that might mean helping you sort through questions like:
- Is this an ADHD issue, a health issue, or both?
- What’s worth addressing first, so that you’re not trying to fix everything at once?
- How do you explain your symptoms to your doctor in a way that helps them understand what is actually going on?
You already know something needs to change.
I can help you make a plan that is realistic, specific, and tailored to your life.
Depending on what you need, we may use…
- Mindfulness-based approaches to help you notice what is happening in your body without getting overwhelmed by it
- Cognitive behavioral tools to identify the internal patterns, assumptions, and self-criticism that keep you stuck
- Brainspotting, a brain-body method that can help process stress and trauma without needing to talk through everything in detail
- Support with treatment planning, care coordination, and medical advocacy when symptoms overlap or the picture is not straightforward
When You Know What to Do—But Still Feel Stuck
You probably already know a lot of what you “should” be doing. You know the routines. You know the habits. You know the advice. But when you try integrating it all into your life, you just can’t seem to make it stick.
You don’t need more advice. You need help getting clearer about what’s happening, and what would actually help.
In therapy with me, we’ll slow things down enough to listen to what your body’s been trying to say. We’ll map out the interplay between your beliefs, feelings, past experiences, current behaviors, habits, and physical sensations, conditions, and changes. Once we understand the pattern, we can build a plan around it, tailoring our approach to your unique needs and learning style.
Therapy can help you:
Understand the fuller picture behind your symptoms
Make sense of whether a problem is behavioral, medical, hormonal, trauma-related, or some combination thereof
Build routines and strategies that fit your actual life and energy level
Reduce the shame and self-blame that often come with high-functioning ADHD and chronic overwhelm
Advocate for yourself more effectively with doctors and other providers
Feel more organized, grounded, and less stuck in day-to-day life
Let’s get started building the life you want to live.
I have worked with hundreds of clients on issues ranging from the practical to the deeply personal, and I bring a holistic, research-informed, down-to-earth approach to the work we do together.
You do not need to arrive with the right language. We can figure that out together.
Shauna Pollard, PhD | Licensed Psychologist
- Primary Practice: Atlanta, Georgia (License #PSY003858)
- Telehealth & Interstate Practice: Maryland (License #05669) and PSYPACT Authorized (Mobility #6576), serving clients in 40+ states.
- Experience: 20-year trajectory of psychological research and clinical synthesis and 10+ years of licensed clinical practice specializing in the intersection of health disparities, mental health and physical health