Shirley Jean's Home Page

Shirley Jean Schmidt, MA, LPC is a psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of adults with trauma, depression, anxiety, and chronic illness, and chronic pain. She developed the Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy (DNMS), a therapy approach for treating adults who did not get there needs met well enough as children. This includes adults who experienced childhood abuse, neglect, enmeshment, or any other unmet developmental needs. Schmidt has written a book for therapists, which outlines the steps of her DNMS protocol. She teaches this strategy in workshops around the country. She is the founder of the DNMS Institute.

Regarding The DNMS: The DNMS is an ego state therapy based on the assumption that the degree to which developmental needs were not adequately met is the degree to which a client is stuck in childhood. The DNMS starts by guiding clients to establish three internal Resources: a Nurturing Adult Self, a Protective Adult Self, and a Spiritual Core Self – which together form a Healing Circle. Together these Resources help wounded child ego states get unstuck from the past, by meeting their unmet developmental needs. Special attention is given to unmet attachment needs, which are considered the most important of all the developmental needs. The DNMS focuses on healing maladaptive introjects (child ego states that mimic abusive, neglectful, or dysfunctional caregivers). Since these wounded ego states cause the most trouble for clients, their healing results in a huge benefit. As the introjects heal, and get totally unstuck from the past, clients report that unwanted behaviors, beliefs, and emotions disappear. The DNMS protocols are very gentle. They guide a client’s Resources to meet attachment and attunement needs, process strong emotions, and bond with the child ego states. The process builds self-esteem, desensitizes developmental traumas, and integrates dissociated parts of self. The Healing Circle is also an effective tool for daily affect regulation.

Click here to read more about the DNMS.
Click here to see a 25-minute slide show about the DNMS.
Click here for information about the DNMS book for psychotherapists.
Click here for information about the DNMS Home Study Course for psychotherapists.

Regarding EMDR: EMDR is a fast and efficient protocol for resolving single-incident, adult-onset traumas that do not link back to unmet developmental needs. This includes traumas such as car accidents, house fires, floods, etc. For more information about EMDR click on www.emdr.com.. It incorporates alternating bilateral stimulation (ABS) which appears to speed up trauma desensitization. ABS can be applied as rapid side-to-side eye movements, alternating bilateral tactile stimulation, and/or alternating bilateral auditory stimulation. As an EMDR therapist, Shirley Jean Schmidt has published many professional articles about integrating EMDR with Ego State Therapy in the EMDR International Association Newsletter, and given presentations at several EMDR International Association Conferences. She holds the patent on the TheraTapper™, an EMDR bilateral tactile stimulation device that has been sold world-wide.

Regarding Treatment of Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness: She has been a student of mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) for over 10 years, led several day-long mindfulness retreats, and taught classes in the use of mindfulness meditation in psychotherapy and pain management. In 1995 she completed an internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center Stress Reduction Clinic in Worcester. This world renown clinic's Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program provides intensive training in meditative practices to patients with chronic pain and illness. It is led by well-known author Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD and was featured on Bill Moyer's 1993 PBS special "Healing and The Mind." Several of her articles on the treatment of chronic pain and illness have been published in "Enjoy Whole Health Magazine". Click here for a page with links to the articles.