Our Team
Shawn Bact, LICSW, MBA
Pronouns: they/them
Shawn is a strengths-based and trauma-informed therapist who works collaboratively with clients to navigate challenges and co-create spaces for healing and self exploration. They believe that the therapeutic relationship is an important container in the healing process. Shawn aims to meet clients where they are with compassion, curiosity, and cultural humility.
Shawn is trained in Internal Family Systems therapy (Level 2), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Level 1), EMDR therapy, Gender Affirming Care, and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. Shawn also draws from the Liberation Health model, Self-led Exposure with Response Prevention, Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), harm reduction, and mindfulness.
Most recently, Shawn was an outpatient therapist at And Still We Rise, a group private practice in Boston. They also have experience providing individual outpatient therapy at a group practice in Roslindale, outpatient and group therapy to undergraduate and graduate level college students, and in-home support to BIPOC LGBTQIA+ young adults and their families.
Shawn received their MSW from Simmons University with a certificate in the treatment of trauma, and their MBA from The Heller School at Brandeis University. Outside of work, Shawn enjoys supporting transgender and gender non-conforming youth, community organizing to build the world they want to live in, finding new bodies of water to float in, and hiking with their dog.
Sky Gavis-Hughson, LICSW
Pronouns: they/them
Sky believes that we heal in relationship and sees their role as supporting clients to build a strong relationship with themselves. They work with clients to develop and strengthen internal resources, learn to stay present with difficult emotions, and move through internal conflicts to a place of alignment, self understanding, and self compassion.
Sky is trained in Internal Family Systems therapy (Level 1), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Level 1), EMDR therapy (Basic Training), and Gender Affirming Care. They have completed master’s level coursework in the treatment of structural dissociation. Sky also draws from anti-oppressive frameworks, Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP), and harm reduction. Sky is fluent in English and conversationally proficient in Spanish and French.
Before co-founding The Holding Place, Sky was an outpatient therapist and consultant at And Still We Rise, a group private practice in Boston, where they continue to provide clinical supervision. During their clinical training Sky interned at the South End Community Mental Health Center offering individual psychotherapy in English and Spanish. They earned their MSW in 2023 from Simmons University.
In their free time Sky enjoys cooking, making art and music, coordinating mutual aid efforts, building community, and snuggling their dog.
