About Hillary
Dr. Hillary Schaefer welcomes people who feel worried, stuck, or overwhelmed and are looking for clear, practical help. She writes plainly and meets each person with calm focus.
She aims to provide tools that can be used right away to reduce anxiety and manage stress. She earned a doctorate from the University of Virginia in 2013 and has practiced for 12 years. Her work has included clinic, hospital, and university settings, and she has experience directing a clinic that focused on families and children.
Background and approach
She currently practices from New York and holds psychologist credentials in New York and Washington state. In sessions she combines approaches to match the person in front of her. She often draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thinking and on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to clarify values and build workable habits.
She also uses client-centered and emotionally focused ideas to help people feel heard and to strengthen important relationships. Her areas of focus include stress, anxiety, self-esteem, coping with life changes, parenting concerns, ADHD, addictions, relationship and intimacy issues, eating and sleeping problems, depression, bipolar concerns, and compassion fatigue.
She also works with topics such as body image, blended family issues, caregiving stress, codependency, and communication difficulties. Dr. Schaefer frames therapy as a collaborative process.
She aims for clear goals, regular check-ins about progress, and practical strategies to support daily life. People who want straightforward, evidence-informed help often find this approach useful.
Therapeutic approaches that fit online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and choose actions that match their values. It can be useful for anxiety, stress, and motivation by focusing on small, consistent steps rather than trying to erase difficult feelings.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact. It offers hands-on techniques to reframe thinking patterns and build different habits, which often helps with anxiety, sleep problems, and low mood.
Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes being heard and understood. It creates space to explore emotions and relationships, which can support work on self-esteem, intimacy, and communication problems.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, try methods that fit their situation, and adjust based on what helps. That collaborative process makes it easier to tailor strategies to daily life.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video sessions are good for in-depth conversations and using worksheets together. Phone sessions can be shorter check-ins or suit lower bandwidth situations. Chat and messaging allow for ongoing support between longer sessions and can fit a break at work or a busy day. These options make it easier to work on anxiety and stress without major scheduling changes.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- New York, Washington
- Languages
- English
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