- Anxiety and mood support
- Mindfulness and CBT
- Skills for daily life
About Susan
Susan Shafer is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with about 15 years of experience. She works with people facing anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD, grief, and major life changes. Her approach emphasizes connecting thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to help people find practical ways forward.
Susan blends client-centered conversation with tools from cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness. She encourages simple practices that fit into daily life, such as breath work and awareness exercises. She also uses elements of motivational interviewing and solution-focused work to set achievable goals and track progress.
Her background includes a Master’s degree in Community Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and clinical work across age groups and settings. She has worked with children, adolescents, adults, and families, and brings that varied experience to her sessions in New Jersey.
Susan often integrates movement and body-focused techniques alongside talk therapy. She has training in Emotional Freedom Techniques, sometimes called tapping, and may offer psycho-educational tools that teach clients how to manage stress reactions. These practices are presented as options that clients can try and adapt.
Sessions are conversational and aim to build skills people can use between meetings. Susan focuses on helping clients identify strengths, reduce unhelpful patterns, and move toward clearer goals. She invites people to start when they feel ready and to treat therapy as a collaborative process.
How evidence-based approaches translate to online work
Susan uses client-centered methods that prioritize the person’s experience and cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on changing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns. Client-centered work means sessions are guided by the client’s priorities and pace. CBT provides concrete tools such as thought records and behavior experiments that people can practice between meetings.Mindfulness therapy is another common element she uses, teaching simple attention and breathing practices to reduce rumination and increase present-moment awareness. These practices can help with anxiety, sleep issues, and emotion regulation when practiced regularly.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to identify goals, try different techniques, and adjust methods based on what helps most. That means starting with a conversation about needs and trying practical exercises together until a useful mix of strategies is found.
The therapist’s biography does not list specific online session formats. Before booking, confirm which formats are currently offered. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and let people practice skills at home between appointments.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
15+ years
Credentials
North Carolina, New Jersey
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she address?
Susan works with a wide range of concerns including stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, ADHD, addictions, grief, relationship and family issues, parenting stress, sleep problems, bipolar and mood disorders, and codependency.
What is her general therapy style?
Her style is client-centered and practical. Sessions combine conversation with skills-based tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and solution-focused techniques.
How much experience does she have?
She has about 15 years of clinical experience working across settings with children, adolescents, adults, and families.
What credentials and region are listed?
She holds LCMHC and LPC credentials, listed as NC LCMHC and NJ LPC, and practices out of New Jersey.
Which languages are supported?
Sessions are offered in English and international clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are available?
The original biography does not specify session formats. Please confirm the current session options before booking.
How is cost structured?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability and uses a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working together?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, completing a short matching questionnaire, and then scheduling according to therapist availability.
Profile details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. Credential and registration rules differ between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.