Shanelle Clay is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. As a clinician, she believes that everyone should be afforded the opportunity of receiving adequate mental health services regardless of their location. Shanelle’s certifications as a Board Certified Telemental Health (BC-TMH) counselor and National Certified Counselor (NCC), provide her the ethical training to serve her clients though telemental health HIPAA-compliant platforms, which assist in enlarging the areas
she serves. Over the last 9 years, Shanelle has used her advanced training in clinical techniques to provide counseling services to children, adolescents, and adults in a plethora of community and private agencies.

Shanelle is currently serving as not only a psychotherapist, but the Assistant Clinical Director at Onyx Therapy Group. As an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS), Shanelle uses the Integrated Developmental Model, Discrimination Model, and the Culturally Intersected Clinical Supervision Model to provide
individual and group supervision to graduate level clinicians, pre-licensed, and licensed therapist. Under her direction, counselors can consult and get professional guidance to serve their clients well. As a psychotherapist, Shanelle incorporates a balance of Psychoanalytic and Humanistic approach. Shanelle recognizes that it is important to acknowledge the impact the unconscious mind has on our behaviors and the client’s development towards self-actualization and autonomy.

Shanelle’s training in hyper-sensitive subjects such as trauma, death, dying, and grief continue to benefit the wellness of her clients to process effectively. Her background in crisis relief and cultural appropriation permits her to be empathetic to the direct clients she serves and those whom she consults with on these subject matters. As a certified school counselor, she has aided in the betterment of children as young as 3 years of age. With a solid practice in Child-Centered therapy, Person-Centered Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy, she has been able to effectively treat clients of every age group.

Shanelle is currently a doctoral candidate pursuing her degree in Counseling Education and Supervision and continues to nourish her craft through professional development and other learning opportunities. Shanelle knows the importance of using evidence-based practices with clients to ensure that they receive the best clinical feedback to help accomplish their treatment goals. The incorporation of bio-psychological responses and evidence-based research compliment her tenure as a social science researcher at government level and in academia through university lab. As a scholar, she has illustrated her passion for learning about humanistic responses through her ventures as a Ronald McNair Scholar and other academic experience. Shanelle’s research topics include racial stress, clinical techniques to target grief in minority children, impacts of mentorship, and clinical supervision.

Shanelle has provided consultation services in the format of training in socio-emotional learning through parenting courses and childcare mandated courses for licensure. As a presenter, Shanelle has provided data on her research topics at state, region, and national levels such as Pennsylvania Counseling Association Conference, North Atlantic Region Association for Counselors and Supervisors, and American Counseling Association Conference.

In addition to the many roles she serves in Onyx, Shanelle is currently an adjunct professor teaching Child and Adolescents and Techniques of Counseling to masters-level students. Her efforts in mental health have not only been acknowledged by the agencies she has worked with such as Steel Smiling and Centronia, but the National Board of Certified Counselors as their Minority Fellowship Awardee for 2020. Shanelle serves as a returning contributor for culturally competent articles supporting Black men in Henry
Health. Shanelle’s views on being a versatile clinician is “If I focus on being one type of clinician, how can I possibly help more than one type of client? Every training I partake in is to provide me the experiences to service my clients effectively."