Dr. Shafer’s Qualifications

• PhD in Clinical Psychology
• Licensed Marriage and Family therapist, California MFC 19148
• Highly Skilled in Couples Therapy
• 40 Years Experience
• Caring & Compassionate

   

Individual Therapy

As a psychologist in the general Santa Barbara area, the central focus in my work is to help my clients explore their unique, inner experience and to make sense of it in a way which is both deeply meaningful and healing. By understanding strengths and weaknesses in the light of early experiences which have shaped them, emotional distress is relieved and individuals are empowered to make more effective choices. From this perspective psychotherapy becomes more user friendly and as a psychotherapist with over 40 years experience, I can provide guidance and understanding.

Often we can only really see ourselves in the mirror provided by another. The framework of empathic understanding and support provided by the psychotherapeutic relationship enables the client to see him- or herself more clearly. I believe that this is my greatest strength as a therapist.

Because each person is unique, there can be no set formula for helping people find solutions to their problems. Rather, I work with each client to arrive at treatment goals which reflect their particular needs and set of circumstances. Then, by attending carefully and non-judgmentally to what is being presented, I develop intervention strategies to optimize the client’s ability to achieve these goals. Psychotherapy therefore becomes more relational and less confrontational.

Couples Therapy

Secure connection with others is the heart and soul of our emotional well-being.  Everyone longs for loving relationships, yet too often we unintentionally distance ourselves from one another by being reactive: by withdrawing, by being too eager for approval, or simply by being too busy to pay attention.    This can result in feeling painfully separate, insufficiently appreciated & unloved.

Whether in individual therapy and/or in conjoint therapy with a partner, relationship therapy can help us hold and heal the sense of unworthiness that causes us to hold ourselves apart from others.

Relationship therapy is equally suitable for same-sex as well as heterosexual couples, married or unmarried;  it is also helpful in working through issues in families, between siblings and between parents and children. So, if you need a psychotherapist in the Santa Barbara area to help with marriage or individual therapy, I can help.