Susan Shafer, LCMHC, LPC

Susan Shafer is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor - LCMHC and a Licensed Professional Counselor - LPC who brings 15 years of experience to her work. She focuses on practical ways to reduce anxiety, manage mood swings, and handle the fallout from trauma and abuse. She invites people to start where they are and build small, steady changes.

Susan blends talk therapy with skills practice. She draws on client-centered methods to make sessions feel respectful and goal-driven. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness techniques are used to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try different responses. She also integrates breath and movement when it helps a person feel more grounded.

Many sessions include clear, active techniques such as problem-solving, short behavioral experiments, and motivational questions to boost momentum. Susan helps people work through relationship stress, grief, parenting strains, work-related burnout, and struggles with attention and impulse control. She also supports those coping with addiction, sleep troubles, and life changes.

Her background includes a master's degree in community counseling and a range of settings working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. That varied experience shapes a flexible style that adapts to each person's needs. She aims to strengthen coping skills while building on existing strengths.

Susan encourages a collaborative plan. Together clients set clear goals, track progress, and adjust strategies as needed. The approach is practical and down-to-earth, focused on making everyday life easier and more manageable.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Susan commonly uses Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Mindfulness Therapy in her work. Client-centered work focuses on listening closely and helping people name their goals so sessions follow their priorities. CBT helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors with simple experiments between sessions. Mindfulness practices teach attention to breathing and bodily sensations to reduce reactivity and improve sleep and stress responses.

Deciding which approach to use is a team effort. Susan will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and then try methods that fit. She checks in regularly and changes the plan if something is not helping, so the work stays practical and focused on real-life improvements.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, shorten commute time, and allow for different ways of working such as guided breathing exercises, brief check-ins, homework reviews, and screen-shared worksheets. The aim is to make therapy usable in everyday life and to support steady progress toward the goals you set together.