Jessica Shaffer, CSW-PIP

Jessica Shaffer is a licensed social worker who focuses on common and urgent concerns such as stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression, and compassion fatigue. She also supports people coping with addiction, sleep problems, parenting strain, relationship stress, self-esteem struggles, and major life changes. Jessica brings a calm, direct style and aims to build a trusting relationship as the foundation of therapy.

She uses practical methods and works with each person to find what helps most. That can mean cognitive behavioral therapy to change unhelpful thoughts and habits, solution-focused work to set manageable goals, or motivational interviewing to find internal reasons to change. Jessica also draws on trauma-focused techniques when past harm continues to affect daily life.

Jessica began working in the mental health field in 2003 and has been practicing therapy since 2011. Her background includes individual and group work with youth and adults who have experienced trauma, and experience in crisis intervention with people in acute suicidal crisis while working in a correctional facility.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Black Hills State University in 2003 and a Master of Social Work from Newman University in 2010. Jessica is licensed in South Dakota as a Certified Social Worker in Private Independent Practice, CSW-PIP.

Outside of work she enjoys traveling, family time, and outdoor activities. She aims to work collaboratively and help people find straightforward, usable tools for everyday life.

How Jessica’s approaches translate to online work

Jessica often uses cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors to reduce symptoms like anxiety or low mood. CBT sessions commonly include goal setting, behavior experiments, and practical homework to try between meetings.

She also uses motivational interviewing to help people find personal reasons to change. This approach is conversational and helps clarify a person’s goals and strengths when facing challenges such as addictions or ambivalence about change.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Jessica will discuss options and tailor methods to each person's goals, needs, and preferences rather than prescribing one fixed method. Together they decide what feels most useful and adjust as progress is made.

Online therapy formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat offers quick check-ins, and text-based messaging supports brief updates or ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, school, or family routines and support continuity of care when schedules change.