About Shannon
Shannon Schaeffer is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in Iowa who focuses on stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, self esteem, and depression. She speaks plainly and aims to make conversations feel steady. She invites people to say what they are carrying and to try small steps toward feeling better.
Shannon uses practical tools to help people manage strong emotions and daily struggles. She draws from cognitive behavioral methods to notice thoughts that get in the way.
Background and approach
She also uses acceptance and commitment ideas to help people pick actions that match their values, even when feelings are hard. Her approach includes mindfulness techniques to calm the body and mind during tense moments. She pays attention to life story and relationships with psychodynamic thinking, so patterns that repeat can be seen and changed.
Sessions blend short-term skill-building with deeper reflection when that fits the person. Shannon works in a straightforward, compassionate way. She aims to make therapy a place where worries are heard and practical next steps are planned.
Her style is supportive but goal oriented, and she respects each person’s pace. With ten years of clinical experience, Shannon has helped people navigate grief, chronic health stresses, problems with self-worth, and mood difficulties. She offers guidance for everyday coping and for rethinking long-held habits that no longer serve a person’s goals.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match what matters most. It is useful for anxiety, chronic stress, and life direction questions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking and trying small behavior changes to shift mood and functioning. It works well for depression, anxiety, and everyday coping skills. Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and calm the nervous system during stressful moments.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Shannon treats the process as collaborative and will help figure out which methods fit a person’s goals and preferences. Together they try techniques, check what helps, and adjust the plan if something doesn’t fit.
Online therapy lets people access these methods in flexible ways. Video calls let the conversation feel most like an in-person visit. Phone sessions can be a lower-bandwidth option and may feel easier on some days. Live chat or text-based messaging supports quick check-ins, brief coaching, and notes between sessions. These formats make it simpler to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or mobility limits while still working on the same therapeutic goals.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Body image
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Iowa
- Languages
- English