Shayna Schaefer, LCSW

Shayna Schaefer is a licensed clinical social worker with 28 years of experience helping people navigate hard life moments. She focuses on practical steps that build self-respect, clearer communication, and steadier day-to-day coping. Shayna speaks English and Spanish and works from Delaware. Her work often addresses stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship struggles, and includes support for trauma and abuse recovery. She also helps with parenting challenges, eating and body image concerns, career transitions, grief, bipolar mood management, and ADHD-related coping. Shayna draws on a range of approaches to match each person’s needs. In sessions she uses collaborative, person-centered methods that let clients set the pace. Conversations are grounded in real problems and simple tools people can try between sessions. She blends cognitive-behavioral ideas with mindfulness and acceptance strategies to help clients notice patterns and make different choices. Shayna pays attention to life transitions like midlife change, workplace stress, and the challenges of adoption or blended families. She also supports people dealing with abandonment, attachment issues, caregiver strain, and separation. Her work is direct and practical, aimed at helping clients feel more capable in everyday situations. Those who meet with her can expect an empathetic, steady presence and a focus on usable skills. The first sessions review immediate concerns and goals, then move into strategies suited to each person’s situation. She partners with clients to track progress and adjust tools as needed.

Therapeutic approaches and how they translate online

Shayna uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people notice difficult thoughts and move toward values-based actions. That approach is useful for anxiety, stress, and life changes where taking small, consistent steps matters.

She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thinking and try practical behavior changes. CBT is often helpful for mood concerns, worry, and patterns that keep recurring.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Shayna collaborates with each person to match methods to goals, needs, and preferences, and she adjusts the plan as progress is tracked.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm current session options before booking since formats are not specified here. Many people find virtual work makes fitting therapy into a busy week easier, reduces travel time, and allows shorter check-ins when schedules demand it. Online meetings can also let someone continue care through a life transition or when juggling work and family responsibilities.