You don’t have to keep carrying everything on your own
I’m Stephanie Schaefer, a licensed psychologist in Oregon and founder of OtterWell Mental Health, LLC. I help over-responsible adults navigate anxiety, burnout, people-pleasing, and life transitions without losing themselves in the process.
When you’re used to being the dependable one, it’s easy to lose sight of how much pressure you’ve been carrying for so long. It can feel impossible to imagine what would happen if you stopped taking care of everything and everyone.
Over time, anxiety, burnout, and feeling responsible for everything can leave you feeling emotionally depleted, resentful, disconnected from yourself, and unsure how much longer you can keep all the plates spinning.
My Approach
Therapy with me isn’t about performing, or pretending things feel more manageable than they actually are. Sessions tend to move between understanding what’s driving your behaviors and gently experimenting with new ways to respond when old ones stop working.
You won’t get a therapist who just nods and takes notes. I’ll ask hard questions, share what I’m noticing, laugh with you, and meet you as a person, not a diagnosis.
My style is informed by evidence-based approaches, including CBT and DBT, while staying flexible and tailored to your specific needs and goals.
Together, we’ll explore the patterns that keep you stuck in over-functioning, anxiety, guilt, and exhaustion while building healthier ways to care for yourself without apologizing.
You don’t have to have it all together here
You’ve probably already tried self-care and strategies that made sense in theory and didn’t fully fit your real life. We’ll focus on realistic shifts you can keep up with, not a plan that falls apart at the first signs of a busy week.
These experiences don’t discriminate—I’ve worked with clients from diverse backgrounds, from college students to healthcare executives, and I’ve consistently seen how the weight of always being the one everyone depends on can wear people down over time in ways that aren’t always obvious from the outside.
While the details may differ depending on your role, identity, or life circumstances, the underlying pattern is often the same: the grip of anxiety and perfectionism is hard to step out of, even when you know it’s no longer working for you. I’m not going to flinch at whatever you bring into the room, and I’m not going to hand you the same worksheet I gave three other clients today. We’ll create an approach that feels doable for your life and relationships.
What it’s like to work with me
Clients often tell me that they immediately felt accepted and not judged. You don’t have to earn support here. You don’t have to prove your stress is “big enough” or justify why something feels hard in order to be taken seriously.
Therapy becomes a space where you can be honest about what’s really happening beneath the surface while also building practical ways to slow down the mental noise and actually rest.
I work with:
Training & Licensure
- Doctor of Psychology. (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology, School of Graduate Psychology at Pacific University, 2011
- Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, School of Graduate Psychology at Pacific University, 2006
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Positive Psychology
OtterWell Mental Health LLC
Therapy for adults ready for more than survival mode
OtterWell Mental Health LLC was founded from the belief that people need more than just surviving the day to truly feel well. For a lot of adults, rest and joy have stopped feeling like something they’re allowed to have—more like luxuries than essentials.
The name OtterWell was inspired by river otters–playful, curious animals known for their resilience. They adapt to their changing environments and still make time for connection and fun.