In 2012, psychologist David Shaw closed his practice of 28 years in sunny Jupiter, Fla. and thought he was ready to call it a career.

Then he got bored and ended up in frigid Rawlins. Well, that’s the short version of the story.

“I was 57 and I realized I was too young (to retire),” Shaw said. He decided to find a job out west because both his children lived in Colorado: a son in Boulder and a daughter in Denver.

“I didn’t want to be on top of them, but a couple hours away,” Shaw said. So he took a job at the Wyoming State Penitentiary.

Shaw soon realized it wasn’t a good fit, and on Monday, he joined LS Counseling as its newest counselor.

At LS, Shaw’s main job is psychotherapy counseling, but he hopes to expand his repertoire like he did when he had his own practice. “I’m hoping to blossom out, but I’ll take my time and feel my way,” he said.

To Shaw, branching out and developing different specialties had always been his way of keeping things “creative, fresh and interesting.”

Trained as a clinical psychologist, Shaw had always worked with many different people and dealt with a variety of problems. But he wanted to do more.

An avid athlete, Shaw soon developed an interest in sports psychology. He worked with individual athletes like golfers on performance enhancement, and worked with sports teams like high school basketball on cohesiveness and player-coach issues. He would often join the golfers on the field to help them focus better, relax, and increase their mental toughness.

Shaw also helped with the mental rehabilitation of injured athletes. “Injuries throw your psyche off,” he said. After Shaw gets settled at LS, he is thinking about contacting the high school to offer his services.

A drummer and huge music fan, Shaw later took an interest in music psychology. This involved both consulting with rock bands and using music in sessions with patients.

“The lyrics and melodies can evoke certain emotions,” he said.

Soon after that, Shaw started offering life coaching sessions. “A lot of wealthy people in Florida, they are reluctant to go to a psychologist,” he said. “Life coaching sounds less threatening.”

Shaw also wrote a column for the newspaper in Jupiter. “I would write about stress, holiday blues, basic stuff,” he said.

Shaw grew up in Roslyn, N.Y., less than an hour drive from New York City. “Spending the ‘60s and ‘70s in New York was amazing with all the sports and music,” he said.

From a young age, Shaw knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. “When I was 11 or 12, I was reading Freud, Jung, Erikson, all kinds of psychology things,” he said. “And all my friends would gravitate towards me for advice.”

When asked about his career aspirations during his first year of high school, it was a no brainer to Shaw. “I wanted to be a psychologist,” he said.

He left New York after high school to attend the University of Florida, and earned his Doctor of Psychology from Nova Southeastern University.

Shaw describes his style as “very integrated,” drawing from psychodynamics, mindfulness therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy to name a few.

He likes Rawlins so far despite the cold. “It’s great to be able to get in the car and go to amazing, beautiful places,” he said. “I like the town. Everybody is nice.”

Shaw plans to stay here for a few years at least. “I’ll see where this journey leads me to,” he said.

Shaw may be going with the flow now, but there is one thing he definitely wants to do in the future. His daughter recently earned her doctorate of psychology from the University of Denver. “One day, I hope to practice with my daughter,” he said.