About the Author
The author, Shannon K. Spellman, M.S.W., resides in Phoenix, Arizona and works full time in her psychotherapy practice serving adults and adolescents. She has been working with adolescents, parents 
and families since 1980 when she was barely beyond adolescence herself. It is a goal she set as as a youth and has continued to pursue despite other various interests and specialty areas. Over the years, she has worked extensively with troubled teens and families as well as those who are simply struggling through the typical life cycle stage of adolescence. Shannon has had a great deal of success working with teens who often had not benefited from therapy in other settings or programs.
She began writing poetry and short stories as a pre-teen and continued as a teenager in part as an outlet to vent her emotions about her own adolescence. Shannon later began writing professionally and has had articles and presentations appear in professional publications. She started publishing free tips for parents of adolescents on this website in 2004 in an attempt to reach out to a wider audience of parents than those she helped therapeutically in her private practice. In 2007, she decided she would expand this website to offer additional resources for parents of adolescents who are struggling with troubled teens, and also those seeking support in helping their teenagers successfully accomplish the life cycle stage of adolescence that can be so challenging in even the most loving and healthy family systems. For several years, Shannon also has published free stress management tips and free tips for survivors of sexual abuse, and also published other written and recorded self-help materials on mental health, personal growth, and substance abuse topics.
Shannon's professional credentials include an Associate of Arts Degree in Human Services with special emphasis in Chemical Dependency, a Bachelor's of A
rts Degree with majors in Social Work and Psychology, and a Master's Degree in Social Work. She holds state, national, and international credentials and maintains state and national professional memberships in several organizations.
She has worked with both delinquent and dependent youth involved in the Juvenile Court system as well as with adolescents and families who are self-referred. Clients have come from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and have included heterosexual and gay/lesbian youth and parents. Problems she has helped parents and adolescents address in therapy have included parent-child conflicts, divorced and step-family issues, oppositional defiant and conduct disordered youth, other disruptive behavioral issues, substance abuse and addictions both for teens and within the family 
system, victims of incest and sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect, teens suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, anxiety issues, hardcore repeat juvenile delinquent offenders, gang members, adolescents engaging in self-harm, suicidal adolescents, teens struggling with eating disorders, teen pregnancy and related issues of teen parenting, adoption, and abortion, families struggling with grief issues, sibling rivalry, truancy, runaways, anger issues, domestic violence and criminal damage, dating and issues of dating violence, and problems within the family system.
As an author writing for parents, Shannon shares her years of clinical experience in a down to earth hands-on format offering parents specific suggestions for interrupting their kid's behavioral problems and improving their relationship with their adolescent. She helps parents to clearly identify warning signs and know when to seek additional help. She also will be having a section of this site dedicated to a resource directory for parents seeking more intensive types of treatment alternatives for their adolescents.
Shannon has had articles published in various publications and now publishes her own work with numerous eBooks, booklets, and recorded audio CD's. To view the various publications written for parents of adolescents, the reader is encouraged to visit the publishing store. Each month, several eBooks will be offered as featured articles available free to members of this site. The articles are available for sale in the store to anyone interested who does not want to join the membership site.
In addition to her private practice and her writing, Shannon also offers parenting seminars in the community, intensive weekend retreats for adult groups, interventions for addictions and other self-destructive types of behavioral issues, training presentations for other helping professionals, and various other speaking engagements.
Shannon was in the role of a step-parent for several years to children ranging from 3 to 17 years old and has thus been through some of the challenges of raising a teenager first-hand. She is happy to be beyond that time and enjoys sharing her experiences with others in a helpful and supportive manner. She also frequently served as a coach of sorts to her sister in raising her only son. She wants her nephew to know that his mother frequently did not follow the suggestions and that anything he found to have been not so helpful was probably not his aunt's idea...
When she's not working or writing, Shannon likes playing with her German Shepherd, She-Ra, and her puppy, Charlie, an Australian Shepherd/Labrador mix, and just hanging out and trail riding with her Quarter Horses Desiree' and Visionheart. She spends her leisure time between the desert and the mountains and also enjoys dancing, hiking, meditation, Spiritual pursuit, and laughter with friends. She has recently become a first time very proud great-aunt to baby girl, Sloan.