John Shafer
Practical therapy for everyday family stress
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed in
- New York
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About John
John Shafer is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 25 years of practice. He uses practical therapy methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and life changes. He emphasizes clear, calm conversations to tackle problems like sleep troubles, parenting concerns, trauma, and relationship stress.
John practices in New York and offers sessions in English. He trained with Syracuse University where he completed a master of social work and then worked in a variety of settings.
Background and approach
Those settings included rural community mental health, school-based programs, and urban and suburban clinics. This range shaped his approach to common problems across different life stages and backgrounds. In sessions he draws on cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy among other methods.
He focuses on practical skills people can use between sessions, such as breathing, grounding, and small behavior changes. The work is collaborative and tailored to each person’s goals. John has experience supporting people with grief, addiction, compassion fatigue, ADHD, and chronic medical concerns.
He also addresses issues that can affect daily life like communication difficulties, commitment or intimacy worries, and caregiving stress. His practice aims to combine real-world problem solving with attention to each person’s values. For parents and those managing family challenges, he offers straightforward guidance around parenting, blended family issues, adoption and foster care questions, and caregiving for older adults.
Sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. It focuses on identifying what matters most and taking small steps that match those values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going and teaches practical exercises to shift them. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) emphasizes emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and better communication for intense feelings and conflict.Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked before. Together they try methods for a few sessions and adjust based on what feels useful and manageable.
Online therapy via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging makes that collaborative work easier to fit into busy lives. These formats allow for flexible scheduling, quick check-ins between sessions, and practice of skills in everyday settings. Many people find it simpler to use remote sessions while maintaining consistent progress toward their goals.
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.
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.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does he address?
What kind of approach can I expect in sessions?
How long has he been practicing?
Where is the practice located and what are the credentials?
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Can I work with him from another country?
What session formats are available?
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to John
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point