Shayla Ortell

Shayla Ortell, LPC, is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 20 years of experience providing individual and couples therapy. Ms. Ortell maintains a private practice in Centreville, VA and Gainesville, VA, specializing in neuroscience and awareness-based therapy. She has a deep passion for helping clients regain their ability to relate to life and to other people in healthy ways, often due to stress, trauma, or relationship difficulties that can cause our nervous systems to lose touch with our natural capacity for a calm, grounded, and healthy way of living.

Services Offered

At Shayla Ortell, LPC Therapy for Individuals and Couples, we offer a range of services to support our clients in their journey towards healing and self-discovery. Our therapy incorporates the latest in neuroscience, providing you with techniques to use quickly in order to adjust your nervous system, and gain some sense of relief. We believe that by learning about the ways in which your body and mind express tension and challenging emotions, you can then use that knowledge, and the skills that we will teach you, to reduce stress, and improve your relationships as well as your own personal happiness.

Our services are available both in-person in Centreville, VA, and online throughout Virginia. We offer individual therapy consultations, as well as therapy for couples. Our therapy process is designed to facilitate shifts in your life, helping you to connect with your own natural, healthy inclinations toward nervous system regulation.

We believe that everyone deserves access to mental health services, and we strive to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our clients. Our therapy services are available to anyone who seeks to improve their mental health and well-being.

Neuroscience and Awareness-Based Therapy

Our therapy is based on the latest in neuroscience and awareness-based practices. We help clients to practice methods that calm their nervous systems and regain the ability to relate to life and to other people in healthy ways. We specialize in somatic, experience-based, self-awareness practices in psychotherapy, including Hakomi, Somatic Attachment, Somatic Experiencing, and meditation.

Our approach is skills-based, based on the latest in brain science. We help clients to develop the ability to shift from discomfort to ease, learning to follow their own natural, healthy inclinations toward nervous system regulation. We also focus on helping clients tend to tension in the body, as well as challenging emotions, without becoming overwhelmed.

Additional Interests

In addition to her focus on helping others as a therapist in the Northern Virginia area, Ms. Ortell has brought her natural curiosity to a range of other personal interests. These include gardening, spending time in nature, meditation, music and the effects of sound and silence on healing. She is also interested in how play, creativity, and humor can relate to healing. We believe that by exploring these natural interests, we can deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, and ultimately, support our clients in their journey towards healing and self-discovery.