Meet Dr. Jen Schafer, Psy.D.

 I have always felt a curiosity about life and how humans manage and grow from difficult life events. I watched my own family members struggle and grow from their own journeys of healing. I feel like I have a zest for life and the belief that we are all fluid beings that have the capacity for change and growth. I have worked in community health centers, college counseling centers, and both partial-hospital and outpatient clinics. I feel that these varied settings have helped me adapt to working with a myriad of struggles and patients.

I believe that the first few sessions are a time to gather info to develop your narrative. I am not an expert on you, so I want to learn from you in order to work together to develop goals and a plan that is tailored to your needs. The intake session is more structured than typical sessions with me and is a time for us to begin to build a foundation and determine if we are a good fit. Throughout therapy, we will monitor your progress and maintain flexibility, so if a certain aspect of therapy is not working, we can be transparent and work together to shift to a different strategy. I am not a fan of the term "homework" but I do believe that, in order for therapy to be successful, you need to "practice" skills outside of the therapy hour. I enjoy working with clients who are motivated or willing to work on getting motivated as change is not always easy.

I believe that, in order to be a good psychologist, I have to continue to work on my own skills and experience. I participate in continuing education courses through my state associations and PESI. My current interest is working on groundwork material for the Body Trust movement, which is about learning how to heal your relationship with your body.

I believe that my values are extremely important to my work as a psychologist. I value nonjudgmental and positive, unconditional regard for others. It is not always easy to enter the therapy environment and have trust that you will be heard and understood. My focus is on looking at all the intersectional aspects of your identity in therapy and integrating discussions into our work together.

I am really excited about working in telehealth. There are so many different opportunities to use the online environment in our work together. I am really interested in the research, the focus on moving away from the diet-focused culture, and all the great info coming out about how to have a more fulfilling, nonjudgmental relationship with your body. It is a radical and transforming type of thinking but so important in the movement on healing from body trauma.