Matt and Crystal Sheldon, owners of Therapize Me, are committed to making a positive impact in the Las Vegas Valley.
Their mission was inspired by Matt Sheldon’s personal loss during the COVID shutdown.
“I watched my mom struggle with mental health my whole life,” he said. “We lost her in 2020 after she committed suicide. Therapize Me was born out of the desire to help people like my mom.”
While growing up in Las Vegas, Matt Sheldon developed strong family connections to UNLV’s School of Social Work and the mental health field. Formerly working in business and sales, he now focuses on making mental health care more accessible.
Crystal Sheldon, a UNLV graduate, is a licensed clinical social worker with more than 10 years of experience in the field. Before starting Therapize Me, she served as a clinical director at several mental health agencies. She also applies her professional knowledge to write children’s books.
Her clinical skills and his business experience are at the heart of Therapize Me. Their agency helps people by offering personalized, evidence-based care that brings hope.
“Our name represents the impact of mental health and inspires us to offer the support and care people need,” Matt Sheldon said.
Q. Please provide a brief history of the clinic. How does your family history influence the clinic?
A. I’ve been around the mental health industry my whole life in various ways. Both my grandmas contributed to the UNLV School of Social Work.
Harriet Sheldon, my father’s mom, founded the UNLV School of Social Work and served as chair of the Department of Social Services in the College of Liberal Arts. I believe she built the foundation for social work and therapists in the area.
On my mother’s side, Myrna Williams served as a Clark County Commissioner for 12 years and was a prominent figure in UNLV’s program. She earned a degree in social work and taught in the department for 11 years. She helped raise me because my mother suffered from mental health issues.
Q. What inspired you to start Therapize Me?
A. After my mom’s death, we decided to start our own agency to support others going through similar struggles.
We had the resources and the determination. Crystal reached out to people she knew in the mental health industry, and they helped us build the agency the right way, with a strong ethical foundation. We wanted a place we could be proud of and enjoy coming to every day. Everything fell into place.
As the agency grew incrementally, I began to learn about the mental health industry and how our agency worked.
I am a big believer that everything happens precisely as it’s supposed to.
Q. What sets Therapize Me apart from other counseling practices?
A. I would say consistency. Our clients are happy, and when you search Google for mental health offices, we’ve received 81 five-star reviews from real clients sharing their experiences. This is huge.
From the start, we wanted to create an amazing place for people to work and heal. We thoughtfully designed a non-clinical environment with a welcoming lobby and a clean, professional and relaxed ambiance. We have two administrative staff members up front greeting people as they come in. We have an area for children to play and read books.
Our priorities are taking care of our clients and therapists. I do everything in my power to take care of both.
As part of our client care, we work hard to get people seen as quickly as possible. I’m reminded every day that mental illness will not wait, and neither should care. It takes nerve to pick up the phone and say I need help. People call around, and it can take weeks or even months to get in to see a therapist. We are open seven days a week, which is hard to find. We see a wide range of clientele, from as young as 3 to seniors, and serve individuals, couples and families. If, for some reason, we are unable to see someone, we have resources to refer them out, immediately.
As an agency, we have the luxury of ensuring the success of our client therapy relationships. Once the intake is complete, if a client isn’t comfortable with the therapist, we offer a warm hand-off to another therapist in the agency. We want you to find someone you feel comfortable with.
Also, we accept a wide range of insurance plans and offer aggressive cash rates that I believe are lower than those of other local agencies.
For our therapists, we work to foster a culture of collaboration. We handle all the administrative support, so all they need to do is deliver great therapy. We want our therapists to be present with their clients, and we believe they can do that if we create an environment in which they can flourish.
Q. What is the story behind the name?
A. It was Crystal’s idea. We wanted to rebrand our agency and have something catchy and marketable. She came up with the name Therapize Me. It was perfect. People seem to recognize it. We recently attended a children’s book fair at a local elementary school, and I was wearing a Therapize Me T-shirt. One of the parents approached us, recognizing the logo. They shared how they were a client and loved their experience. It was great.
Q. Tell me about you and your wife’s background.
A. At a young age, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to do my own thing and was always coming up with new ideas. At age 8, I recall packing up all my old computer games and going door-to-door trying to sell them to the neighbors.
I spent a lot of time with my grandma going to events and meeting people, which gave me confidence and developed my communication skills. I have no problem talking to anyone, from CEOs of corporations to clients at the agency.
My professional career spanned more than 30 years in business and sales, the majority of which were with Marriott. I wouldn’t be able to do this without Marriott. It helped me become a strong salesperson, which has enabled me to operate the business.
Crystal graduated from the UNLV School of Social Work with a bachelor’s degree in human services counseling and a master’s degree in social work.
She has worked in the field for more than 10 years as a licensed clinical social worker. She served as a clinical director for several agencies before starting Therapize Me. She understands the field and is a great therapist.
When we had our son, she stepped back from the agency to spend time raising him. She is still using her background to write children’s books, which she does from home.
Q. Crystal, what inspired you to write children’s books?
A. My son inspired me to write books. At age 3, he had common behavioral issues, so I looked for a fun way to address them. Instead of traditional methods, I made up stories to teach him lessons, which he loved. Since the stories were for him, they are aimed at preschoolers and early elementary kids. Seeing how effective the stories were, and with my husband’s encouragement, I published them.
When I write these books, I draw on my experience as a therapist. I include common therapeutic techniques to shape the lessons and help address behavioral issues in each story.
So far, I have self-published nine books and written a total of 34, with more on the way. Each book focuses on a different lesson or addresses a unique behavioral issue.
I hope my books can help parents who are having a hard time teaching their children important life lessons or dealing with common behavioral issues. Through my books, I want to support families in a more playful, adventurous and entertaining way.
Q. Matt, how have you seen Therapize Me evolve over the years?
A. Since opening in 2021, our agency has grown significantly. In 2025, we completed more than 7,000 sessions and expect to serve even more clients this year.
We began with one therapist, Sam Heinrichs, and one administrative staff member, Jocelyn Barrera, both of whom remain with us. Today, our team consists of more than 20 people.
I am proud that we have created an agency dedicated to caring for our clients.
Q. What are your plans for the agency?
A. We just recently renewed our five-year lease at our Henderson location, and plan on adding more square footage to our office. We hope to add three therapy offices later this year and help hundreds more clients each month.
Our five-year plan is to purchase the building and divide it into two separate office areas, one for adults and one for children. Once that is completed, I would love to open a second location in the valley.
Q. What is the biggest challenge in the mental health industry?
A. The biggest challenge in mental health right now is access to care. I’m doing several things to address this issue, using the agency as the foundation.
First, I’m launching a Therapist Chamber of Commerce later this year to help address the broken referral system. Currently, people can search the Therapist of Las Vegas Facebook page, which either yields an overwhelming response or none. This inspired me to develop an interactive resource that provides people with an operator who can help them navigate the system and find a therapist who meets their insurance and other criteria.
We are also starting to conduct workshops for small businesses, led by a therapist, to help their staff cope with stress. We’re currently in talks with several businesses, with a particular focus on the hospitality industry, where staff are facing several challenges.
I’m also hoping to raise money to help the underinsured receive care. I received the 501(c)(3) status over two years ago and am now learning all the nuances of operating a nonprofit. I am big on learning it all and then doing it to avoid any issues.
I’ve further developed the I.N.D.Y. Project. Named after my mom, the program’s mission is to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide. We are committed to preventing suicide and reducing the stigma around mental health. It’s a program for fourth through sixth graders that provides resources, education and support.
