Today we’d like to introduce you to Shameitra N. Green, LMFT-S.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I typically start my story by going back to my senior year of high school in Dr. Rice’s Psychology Class. Dr. Rice once said, “the best way to participate in life and engage with people is to remain curious to human behavior.” I always carried the innate gifts of curiosity of people’s “why” and active listening in uncovering it, so something about Dr. Rice’s wisdom in that moment aligned with my purpose.
From there my education and career started the unfolding of my present day standing as a psychotherapist. I received my B.A. at the University of Houston in Psychology, And during my undergraduate studies, I completed an internship at Justice For Children, Inc. This non profit started by Houston based lawyer intermingled social work with law where I served in title as a Child Abuse Advocate for cases all over the U.S. Justice for Children, Inc evolved into my first post graduate job while following opportunities in my early professional career lead to providing and leading mental health services within at risk communities with young adults, a pilot rehabilitation program with the Mayor of Houston Anti Gang Taskforce to address mental health, educational, and employment resources, as well as mental health services within the school system. I then went back to graduate school at the University of Houston Clear Lake to pursue my Masters and licensure in Family Therapy. I gained a clear understanding from the early stages of career, where it was pivotal to work with my clients and their families, that the relational system that surrounds an individual is indicative of their relationship with self and their operational lens of the world. Healing is clearly systemic and my belief is we are hurt in relationships and we are also healed in relationships. Therefore healing can’t happened in isolation even when there’s one person physically present in the room and my training and clinical conceptualization, as a family therapist, equips me to relationship to self and others as the ultimate client in the room.
Now over my 18 years of being a licensed marriage and family therapy, I have continued to add to my experience of systemic healing with clients and families in diverse environments such as treatment centers, the court system, educational system, child advocacy centers, and my private practice. I have also added trauma informed consultation and trainings for other professionals working directly with trauma populations for best practices and insight in how systems can rehabilitate or perpetuate trauma.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a psychotherapist during an era where mental and emotional wellness wasn’t valued in the holistic heath of humanity, has not been a smooth road. At one point, especially as an African American Therapist, the road meant hoping that your representation will expand the paradigm of what mental/emotional health and healing also looked like to encourage the message that proactive mental health wellness has no cultural limits. So my training and early years as a psychotherapist often came with debunking myths, educating, advocating, and exposing societal’s direct and indirect messaging that seeking mental health resources and therapy was symbol of shame, weakness, or abnormality.
I also have a specialty in working with complex trauma in general, as well as a more narrow niche population impacted by sexual abuse, exploitation, and neglect. However, I was trained and a young therapist in an era where culturally people were just at the beginning of understanding trauma through PTSD and veterans affiliation, so being a trauma professional in the early years where culturally there were paradigm shifts and reckoning with how trauma plays into racial injustices, patriarchy, heteronormative structure, neuronormative design and adaption, and westernized concepts of independence vs. communal interpersonal engagement means having to deal with the discomfort of fear around the unfamiliarity of societal conscious stretching and challenging.
Change typically happens as a pendulum swing to over correction before landing gently in the middle of correction. Currently I feel we are challenged with the saturation of therapy speak being part of pop culture and the addition of AI, so mental health advocacy must now focus on not letting the increased popularity of therapy and alternative forms of healing come as the cost of not protecting and upholding the professional standards, integrity, and respect around the sacred spaces of healing and vulnerability. My philosophy is “therapy is where my humanity meets your humanity and takes you where you desire and/or need to go for the sake of your wellbeing.” In that process you get to shift, struggle, identify, name, reclaim, etc all in real time (or IRL as they say,) to fight for you and find your voice. So with the rise of therapy speak in social media snippets and AI, performative and perfectionist healing will definitely have an impact on the authenticity of growing pains that happens in simply trusting the process therefore learning to trust you as your most reliable source in your healthiest version.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My Private Practice is Nexus Therapy where I serve individuals and families from the age of 13- years old to adulthood in Pearland, Houston, and surrounding areas. My primary license is as a LMFT-S (Marriage and Family Therapist- Supervisor.) My specialities are working with simple and complex trauma, grief, attachment issues, and multigenerational family dynamics. I pride myself on being a therapist that works with trauma holistically, so I have specialized training abd certifications in treatment modalities that address trauma through the body, brain, and energetic field. I am an EMDR Certified Therapist, Certified Chakra Energy Practitioner, and Neurosequential Model Therapy Trained Therapist- Phase 1.
Along with seeing clients virtually and in my office. I also love providing services within the community and in partnership with organizations through my Trauma Consultations and Trainings, as well as Family & Relational Retreats (ie. Sibling retreats, Parent/Adult Child Retreats, Friendship Retreats, Grief Retreats & Events, etc.)
I am also proud of the creative ways I infuse healing to meet my clients and/or future consumers of mental health where they are at. Sometimes there needs to be externalization where people see themselves, but it leaves room for them to walk towards healing versus feeling suffocated by healing. One of the ways I do this is through my podcast From My Couch To Your Couch where I attempt to have relatable and courageous conversations, with esteemed colleagues, family, friends, through relevant cultural vehicles for my audience to feel seen or heard. The mission is for healing to meet you where you are at by planting healing seeds in hopes of starting a path to growth in their sought out intimate therapeutic spaces.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to be consistent in growth with my specialized retreats, podcast, and trainings/consultations. I want to get outside of my office more to heal within the community and allow my purpose as a healer to expand in radius.
I will also be launching my merch soon where active healers and soon to be healers in action will be walking, affirming billboards to their power, worth, and presence….of course in great style!
I recently had my Inaugural Love, Lessons, & Mother’s Day Brunch with the focus of gathering with a community of daughters who desire to have a space to intentionally honor and celebrate our guardian angel Mothers. The event took place on Mother’s Day this year (May 11th, 2025) which was also my birthday as a baby actually birthed on Mother’s Day. It was also my beautiful homage to the start of the love story with my Mother, who treasured my birth as her Mother’s Day gift, and was also my best teacher and model to heathy grief which blessed me in my own grief journey of her. I am looking forward to all the ways I want this event to branch off in the diversity of grief and various relationships held on the holiday of Mother’s Day in the following years to come.
And ultimately one of my future goals was met with this feature in VoyageHouston Magazine by expanding my voice and extending my reach in my purpose and passion as a healer.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @shameitrangreen
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/nexustherapyhealing
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shameitra-n-green-lmft-s-30364a8
- Youtube: @shameitran.greenlmft228
