{"id":119710,"date":"2025-01-22T20:11:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T02:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=119710"},"modified":"2025-01-22T20:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T02:11:36","slug":"shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Dixon<\/p>\n

From a young age, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., CST, understood that sexuality wasn\u2019t something people were comfortable speaking about. \u201cHow is this thing that we all have in common so difficult to talk about or taboo?\u201d But she wasn\u2019t yet aware of this exact specialty in therapy.<\/p>\n

She recalls attending a class at The Chicago School when a sex therapist guest speaker asked if anyone in the room was interested in that niche of the industry. She excitedly raised her hand\u2014she was the only one in the class to do so\u2014expressing immediate enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found my passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

While many Ph.D. programs she had considered were research-based, she wanted to gain more practical skills for going into private practice, and The Chicago School helped shape that path, she says.<\/p>\n

She graduated in 2010 and has since worked as a clinical psychologist at Sexual Health Experts (SHE)<\/a> and now is a Licensed Psychologist and AASECT<\/a> Certified Sex Therapist (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists) with her own practice, specializing in sexual health and wellness and providing therapy services for individuals and couples. Recently, she expanded into virtual therapy and consultation, even providing some coaching outside of the U.S. Her community outreach work brings her to speaking engagements at universities and conferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in and continue to want to help people overcome shame and embarrassment and celebrate sexuality rather than be afraid of it or look at it from a very clinical lens,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

While Dr. Chavez had encouragement from her family to pursue higher education, she was the first to attend graduate school and didn\u2019t know how it would look for her, especially regarding affordability and if it would be possible to work while attending courses. \u201cI felt lots of support from The Chicago School,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel any moments where I didn\u2019t have guidance around me,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Dr. Chavez credits The Chicago School with providing a well-rounded education and opportunities for her to figure out a niche in psychology via group practice, private practice, working with practitioners and mentors, guest speakers with intern opportunities, and more. \u201cThat was a great help in terms of figuring out where to start,\u201d she says, adding that the university encouraged students to branch out to multiple modalities to shape their work.<\/p>\n

She enjoyed being able to attend classes, then work at the counseling center with peers in practicum internship. \u201cI loved that facility,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved that it was attached to our school. It really felt like they gave us the opportunity to learn the process of working in what would later be private practice,\u201d such as booking clients, creating plans, and working in groups. \u201cI thought it was a great way to get your feet wet and get into the work and have your peers there for support.\u201d She remains great friends with individuals in her cohort.<\/p>\n

Mentors that Dr. Chavez encountered along the way were especially notable for her. Nectar Redman, Psy.D., taught a few of Dr. Chavez\u2019s courses and helped guide her career. Dr. Chavez credits Patti Britton, Ph.D., a human sexuality professor, for sharing the intricacies of the field. Together they facilitated workshops and events, and Dr. Chavez says that Dr. Britton has been there for everything throughout her career. Kathy MacLeay, Ph.D.,<\/a> also taught numerous courses, where Dr. Chavez learned about clinical work and how to apply learnings to a real-world practice.<\/p>\n

Since graduating from The Chicago School in 2010 with a Psy.D. Clinical Psychology<\/a>, she has established her own practice and has been published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine<\/a>. Twice she has presented her research at the Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been incredibly rewarding to see not only the interest but the application of training that I\u2019ve gone through that I can now help other providers with,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s working to reduce barriers around sexual health by taking a comprehensive approach, where doctors, specialists, and holistic healers can work together for the interest of clients in need. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the integrated model I got started in my career and have continued to promote in this field, which I think is helpful for clients who are looking to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Dixon From a young age, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., CST, understood that sexuality wasn\u2019t something people were comfortable speaking about. \u201cHow is this thing that we all have in common so difficult to talk about or taboo?\u201d But she wasn\u2019t yet aware of this exact specialty in therapy. She recalls attending a class at The Chicago School when a sex therapist guest speaker asked if anyone in the room was interested in that niche of the industry. She excitedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":119712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,113],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1062],"class_list":["post-119710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","category-psychology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDistinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D. - Insight Digital Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eager to help people overcome shame of uncomfortable topics, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., found her passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D. - Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eager to help people overcome shame of uncomfortable topics, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., found her passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-23T02:11:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1474\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"807\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Chicago School\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Chicago School\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D. - Insight Digital Magazine","description":"Eager to help people overcome shame of uncomfortable topics, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., found her passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D. - Insight Digital Magazine","og_description":"Eager to help people overcome shame of uncomfortable topics, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., found her passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/","og_site_name":"Insight Digital Magazine","article_published_time":"2025-01-23T02:11:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1474,"height":807,"url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"The Chicago School","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Chicago School","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/"},"author":{"name":"The Chicago School","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07"},"headline":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D.","datePublished":"2025-01-23T02:11:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/"},"wordCount":742,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png","articleSection":["From the Magazine","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/","name":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D. - Insight Digital Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png","datePublished":"2025-01-23T02:11:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07"},"description":"Eager to help people overcome shame of uncomfortable topics, Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., found her passion for sex therapy at The Chicago School.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chavez.png","width":1474,"height":807,"caption":"Dr. Shannon Chavez smiles at the camera in photograph inset on a banner displaying their name."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/shannon-chavez-psyd-distinguished-alumni\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Distinguished Alumni: Shannon Chavez, Psy.D."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/","name":"Insight Digital Magazine","description":"The Chicago School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07","name":"The Chicago School"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119711,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119710\/revisions\/119711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119710"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=119710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}