Heather Shaver, LCSW

Heather Shaver is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 20 years of experience helping people navigate stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression, addictions, relationship and family concerns, and life transitions. She sees issues that range from eating and sleeping problems to compassion fatigue and career stress. Heather aims to create a straightforward space where people can begin to feel understood and choose practical next steps.

She trained in social work at the University of Central Florida and has a background that includes victim advocacy for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. That early work shaped how she responds in crisis and how she supports people who have experienced trauma. Over the years she has worked in residential substance-abuse settings, hospice and home health care, and private practice.

Heather currently directs mental health services and supports chronically ill adults. Her varied roles have given her experience with grief, end-of-life concerns, and the complex needs that can come with long-term illness. She combines that experience with a focus on everyday problems like impulsivity, phobias, and communication difficulties.

In sessions she starts where the person is and builds from there. She emphasizes rapport and trust as the foundation for progress. Heather uses methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness approaches, motivational interviewing, solution-focused tools, and trauma-focused work depending on what fits.

Her style is practical and collaborative. She helps people set clear goals and try concrete steps between meetings. The aim is to find manageable changes that fit each person’s life.

How Heather’s Approaches Work Online

Heather commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness-based techniques to help people change unhelpful thoughts and build practical coping skills. CBT focuses on identifying thinking patterns that lead to distress and trying specific behavioral experiments, while mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and improve focus.

She also uses motivational interviewing to help people find their own reasons for change and to set achievable goals. That approach is helpful when someone feels stuck or uncertain about next steps, and it pairs well with solution-focused methods that target small, immediate changes.

Heather treats the choice of approach as a collaborative process. She will talk with the person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before, then suggest a plan that can be adjusted over time. The aim is to find methods that feel useful and realistic for home life and daily routines.

Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls work well for in-depth work and face-to-face interaction, phone sessions are handy when bandwidth is limited, live chat and text messaging can suit brief check-ins or ongoing coaching, and the mix of formats makes scheduling more flexible for people balancing work, caregiving, or health needs.