Marriage and Family Therapy Services - East

07/16/2025

Be careful about having relationships with people with no emotional intelligence. They will never understand you, they will personalize everything, and you will never be seen or heard.

Be careful about having relationships with people who can't regulate their emotions, you will always be at the mercy of their rages and bad moods.

Be careful about having relationships with people with no self-awareness, they have no idea how their behavior affects the people around them, so it's a matter of time before you get hurt.

Be careful about having relationships with people without empathy, they will never see or care about how you feel.

If no one has ever told you, I am telling you now. Look for people in your life with emotional intelligence, self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to regulate their emotions or you will be at the mercy of their dysfunction and pay the price for their immaturity and lack of growth.

06/11/2025

I continue to find that Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is leading to profound and rapid healing -- especially with clients who have struggled with trauma, depression, anxiety, OCD and even some with chronic pain!

If you've been curious about how this novel form of therapy is changing lives, check out my webpage on Ketamine Therapy!

Confidential, Remote/In Person Counseling Services for clients in North Carolina & Health Coaching for Clients across the US

05/07/2025

"Dear Liza,
I'm writing you this message because I still cannot believe what a life changing difference the Ketamine Assisted Therapy has been making in my life.

My interest in Ketamine was originally to help me with my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder symptoms. I needed a lot of help recovering from this and a friend of mine had experienced great success using Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. But after doing 8 medicine and Integration sessions with you, I am here to tell you and will scream it from the rooftops if I can, that this form of therapy has truly HEALED ME, FROM THE INSIDE OUT, ON EVERY LEVEL.

What I didn't expect is to heal from my traumatic childhood memories of abuse and neglect. The memories are still around, but they live in the background of my life now, where they belong -- in the past. The exiled parts of me that were so stuck there in the past, unable to be integrated into my life, are fully with me now, and are at peace. What I also didn't expect was to be able to live so much easier in my own skin, despite having suffered from fibromyalgia/chronic pain since I was a child! Before KAP, I endured living at about a 6 out of 10 for chronic pain on a daily basis. Today, after 8 sessions, I am at about a 2 or 3 each day -- which is a much more livable existence!! I had NO IDEA THIS KIND OF RESULT WAS POSSIBLE! My chronic pain has drastically improved! I'm back to dancing at concerts and exercising weekly, where I could barely walk previously, I was always hurting so much.

I hope you share this message with the public. I want everyone to know how utterly life changing Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is. It's not just the medicine, though. That is a crucial part. But just as important, have been the integration sessions! They gave me a safe space to process all of what came up for me each time I did the medicine. I can't imagine what they would have been like if I hadn't had you to explore it all with, in such a safe and gentle way.

Thank you for the gift of this new form of therapy. I am so grateful you trained to do this and took a chance with such a novel new treatment. It truly altered my future, giving me a new life that I never really imagined I could have!

Thank you, Liza. I will forever be grateful to you and the medicine.
Sincerely,
"Jade K."
(Name changed to protect confidentiality. Letter shared with full permission.)

12/12/2024

Many of you may know that I recently completed training as a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapist. This is a new direction for my professional practice and I am honored and excited to embark on this sacred journey. Ketamine is an incredibly powerful medicine that can cause significant psychological and emotional shifts in people struggling with treatment resistant depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and even chronic pain. I have experienced profound healing, myself, utilizing this medicine and have gotten great relief from many of the symptoms left over after having chronic Lyme disease.

I am also proud and excited to announce my professional partnership with the online Psychedelic medicine service, Better U. Through this partnership, my clients can be assessed to determine if Ketamine is an appropriate medicine, and if so, they can receive a significant discount on their packages ($100 off 4 sessions and $200 off 8 sessions). The client then has a virtual meeting with a medical practitioner who helps determine the appropriate dosage, a treatment plan is developed, goals and objectives are set and the medicine is ordered.

Once they receive their medicine, clients can then choose to do their medicine sessions at home with a family member present, and then work with me the following day doing an integration session. Alternatively, clients choose to hire me to provide Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with me present during their medicine session.

If you'd like to learn more about this treatment or any of my other services, contact me at 828-302-2978. Check out my profile on the Better U partnership page, below 👇! 😊

Liza Shaw is a trauma-informed psychotherapist in Carolina Beach, NC. She offers in-person and remote therapy sessions and is Licensed to work with clients in NC. She's been practicing Therapy since 1999, when she earned her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Appalachian State Univers...

12/11/2024

Is anyone anticipating STRESS this holiday season? I've got a gift for you! Below is a link to a WHKY radio interview. In this recording, radio personality, Hal Rowe interviewed my colleagues at Marriage and Family Therapy Services in Hickory and me, on the subject of how to make the holidays less stressful! Apply some of these strategies this year and get ready to have a more peaceful, fulfilling season of celebration! Please listen, enjoy, and if you like it, comment, like, subscribe and share it with others!

Liza Shaw and her colleagues at Marriage and Family Therapy Services speak with Hal Rowe at WHKY about how to make your holidays Stress-Less!

12/10/2024

I have been working on updating our Youtube channel with all of the workshops and presentations I have offered over many years in my practice. I would welcome you to watch/listen to these free recordings and to hear your feedback! Please leave a comment on the Youtube page, under the recording, to let me know what you found most valuable! Also, if you liked it, please SHARE THE RECORDING WITH OTHERS! Click LIKE and subscribe to the channel! These are some simple ways for you to help support the work I am doing! Thanks in advance, friends!

Confidential, Remote/In Person Counseling Services for clients in North Carolina & Health Coaching for Clients across the US

11/22/2024

We have been getting our YouTube channel finally more active and have been turning some of our old Power to thrive radio posts into videos and loading them up.

We will be posting about these videos as we get them uploaded. We would appreciate you listening, and perhaps afterwards, to comment on the YouTube channel under each video! We feel sure you will know someone who could benefit from these instructive audio recordings.

Today's video is an interview by well known NC Divorce Attorney, Lee Rosen on his now defunct blog called "Stay Happily Married." The topic is "On The Brink of Divorce." In it, I make the case for couples therapy, even when the couple are determined to get divorced. Enjoy!

Renowned North Carolina Divorce Attorney, Lee Rosen, interviews Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Liza Shaw. In this intriguing interview, Shaw describ...

12/13/2023

Here is the last of the workshops I presented with retired Marriage and Family Therapist and Recovery Coach, Ed Mackie. This was a group workshop presented during the early part of the pandemic, so we provided the entire event via Zoom. I had the privilege of presenting alongside Brenton Queen, Debbie Shannon and Ed.

The topic is "Empowering Relationships" and the concepts presented are about applying the principles of Recovery in our relationships -- with ourself as well as with others. Watch/listen to a little at a time and return back to it until it's completed! Or watch the entire 2.5 hour workshop!

Enjoy!

Liza Shaw joins other recovery speakers in an online workshop sponsored by the "Monday Night Recovery Meeting" in Hickory, NC. Liza tells the story of how sh...

12/12/2023

Here is an actual video recording of my mentor, Edgar Mackie and I, presenting a Recovery Workshop on the subject of "LOVE."

Sitting next to him, co-presenting on topics on which he was an expert, was truly one of the highlights of my career. I'll never get over knowing Ed Mackie.

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12/11/2023

This is another one of the recovery workshops I had the privilege of providing alongside my mentor, the late, great Edgar Mackie.

This 50 minute recording is about a lot more than the title ("Something About Nothing") suggests. It's about how to clear the wreckage of the past out of the way so that you can CREATE NEW POSSIBILITIES IN YOUR LIFE. Give it a listen and allow the wisdom of Ed wash all over you!

Shared with Dropbox

12/10/2023

In honor of my dear friend and mentor's death, this week, I am posting the various audio recordings of workshops I had the privilege of leading with him throughout the years.

This 50 minute recording is the second "Relationships in Recovery" seminar we offered the Hickory-area Recovery community. Ed was in rare form during this talk. Seriously. He will have you laughing, crying, and most importantly, challenging your own assumptions, all in just 50 short minutes.

Please give it a listen and allow Ed Mackie's DEEP WISDOM to impact you and your relationships, too!

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12/10/2023

I received word today of a dear friend, mentor, and absolutely FEARLESS therapist, Edgar Mackie, passing away last week. The world has lost a truly phenomenal human being.

In memory of Ed, over the next few days, I will be posting some of the Recovery Seminars I had the honor of presenting alongside him over the many years I've known him. Please take the time to listen to the wisdom this man had to share with all of us. The talks are about 50 minutes long.

I am truly grateful God brought Ed into my life. I wouldn't be half the therapist I am without his mentorship. He taught me what REAL love is -- not the Disney version of "happily ever after" that I had bought into as a young child and carried into my adulthood. He fiercely loved, and he showed us what it is to be human.

I cherish all the hours this beautiful man contributed to me. They will be with me forever.

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