Shawna Munson, PhD, LPC-S, LMFT-S

Director

Hi! My name is Shawna Munson and I am the founder and Director of Serenity House Counseling in Livingston, TX. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Texas A&M University in 2003 and immediately went to work in social services. After seeing how many children and families were in need of a supportive therapist to help them through trauma, stress, and anxiety from their experiences, I returned to school at Sam Houston State University to pursue a Master of Arts in Counseling. Upon graduation in 2008, I learned about a new population that was in need of therapy services, so I spent the next 5 years of my career working in corrections as a therapist. During this time period, I also had the experience of being a foster parent and working with foster children as they learned to cope with circumstances they did not understand and worked to integrate into new families. In 2014, I left corrections and began working at the Department of Veteran Affairs under the Vet Center program as a therapist. I love this population so much that I moved my entire family cross country to manage a Vet Center in Citrus Heights, California before returning home to Texas and opening my private practice in Livingston, TX in 2020. I enjoy working with military populations and their families and as a result, I earned my Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy with an emphasis on Military Families in 2024.

I love to work with individuals, couples, teens, and veterans and their families. I believe that all people have the capability of solving most of their concerns on their own when someone asks the right questions to help. I enjoy working with issues such as PTSD, anxiety, relationship concerns, sexual concerns, and parenting. I find that most people simply want to be heard and to have someone hold space for them without judgment or criticism in order to work through their own needs.

I view therapy from the lens that the client knows what's best for them and they are the driver. I am the passenger helping with the navigation system! I work with clients from a client-centered philosophy with aspects of cognitive-behavioral and reality therapy. I love to work with individuals, couples, and veterans, along with their families.

My goal is to help make tomorrow better than today. My hope for you is that you build a relationship with your therapist based on mutual respect, dependability, and openness. If you are looking for someone who can hold space for you and to create a safe environment where you can be yourself, contact us today!

"Progress is progress, no matter how small. An inchworm moves an inch at a time but as long as it is moving forward, it is making progress!" -Shawna