Dr. Brian Shaffer
Calm practical therapy for real-life challenges
- Credentials
- LCMHC, LCPC
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed in
- Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Brian
Dr. Brian Shaffer uses a person-centered approach to help people make changes that matter. He focuses on practical steps and clear goals.
His style is straightforward and respectful. He draws on 20 years of experience as a counselor to guide each conversation. He blends several well-known therapies to match what each person needs.
That can mean learning new coping skills, addressing difficult memories, or shifting unhelpful thinking patterns. He pays attention to how someone’s relationships and life story shape current struggles.
Background and approach
Spiritual beliefs are welcomed into treatment when clients want that included. Many people come for help with anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, or stress. He also works with issues like trauma and abuse, eating concerns, anger, self-esteem, bipolar disorder, and compassion fatigue.
Additional areas he addresses include body image, caregiver stress, chronic illness, and communication problems. Sessions may focus on immediate practical tools, longer-term processing of painful events, or a mix of both. He uses techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, and Client-Centered Therapy.
The goal is to improve daily functioning and create clearer choices moving forward. Dr. Shaffer holds licenses as an LCMHC and an LCPC and practices from Pennsylvania.
He communicates in English and works with international clients when that fits the situation.
Evidence-based approaches adapted for online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on helping people notice what matters to them and take small actions toward those values. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches concrete strategies to change unhelpful patterns. It often helps with mood, anxiety, and stress.Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals and preferences, then try methods that fit those needs. Adjustments are made over time so the plan stays practical and relevant.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and comfort levels. These options make it easier to follow through on appointments and keep momentum between meetings. The range of formats supports flexible pacing and ongoing access to therapeutic tools.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Looks at how early bonds shaped what you expect from closeness, and how that plays out now with a partner, a parent, or your own children.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does he help address?
What is his therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does he have?
What credentials and location apply?
Which languages and international options are available?
In what session formats can someone meet with him?
How are costs handled for sessions?
What are the first steps to begin therapy?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Brian
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point