Bill and Robin Shearer are Southern California therapists who treat psychological problems characterized by a lack of balance and resilience. Bill Shearer is a psychologist and organizational consultant. Robin Shearer is a Marriage and Family Therapist and well-being coach. Together, the Shearers have run a psychological center and well-being center in Redlands, California for more than 30 years. They are therapists, teachers, consultants and executive coaches. They have conducted numerous business and organizational workshops, along with team building, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and promotion of well-being in the workplace. Their primary professional focus is on promoting well-being for individuals, couples, families, organizations, and communities.
In their clinical work the Shearers deal with a variety of mental and emotional health issues such as troubled relationships. They have also worked for over 30 years in the treatment of addictions, and eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, and Bulimia. Additionally, they specialize in treating stress and anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. The Shearers have dedicated their lives to helping their clients overcome difficulties and move beyond stress, anxiety and depression to lives of resilience and well-being. They help people not merely survive, but thrive!
The Shearers see people individually and in group therapy and together they have developed a holistic treatment known as Mindful Choices Therapy.
Mindful Choices Therapy has evolved through many years of clinical practice. Years ago the Shearers realized that traditional treatment modalities aimed at reducing distress didn’t go far enough in creating lasting emotional balance and well-being. Their clients wanted more. They wanted to thrive.
We talk about "thriving" as operating "above the line." Traditional psychotherapy is aimed at getting people from -5 to 0. Our focus is on coaching people to move from 0 to +5 , or "thriving!" Our clients engage in systematic and regular self-assessment and self-monitoring, continuously moving along our "Life-Planning Roadmap" as depicted below.
Thus
Mindful Choices Therapy was created out of the Shearers’
recognition that well-being and thriving are multifaceted and rooted
in choice and habit. When mindful awareness is coupled with making
great choices, and systematically practicing those choices to the
point of powerful and enduring lifelong habits, well-being and
thriving result. It’s transformative and Mindful Choices Therapy is
designed for that transformation.
The heart of Mindful Choices Therapy is incremental, step-by-step mastery of 10 Mindful Choice areas, all interconnected and all having great impact on well-being. The focus is on assessment based awareness, and systematic and focused practice using knowledge derived from neuroscience as well as a variety of powerful tools for change.
A maximum of 200 points are possible on our Mindful Choices for Well-Being Self-Assessment (Chapter 4), although no one has ever gotten the maximum score. We ask our clients to complete the MCWB self-assessment once monthly, each time using a different color to highlight their progress.
The following is an actual example from one of our clients who began our program deeply depressed and suicidal, seeking relief through addiction. Over time his well-being profile continuously shifted upward (0 to 5 is urgent attention needed, 5 to 10 is attention needed, 10 to 15 is good, and 15 to 20 is optimal). With each shift his overall sense of personal well-being improved. His depression lifted. He began to experience joy in his life. His addiction came under control. His life was transformed. This is not an isolated example, but rather typical in our coaching work.
1. Mindfulness, contemplative traditions, Buddhist psychology, and Stoicism.
2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, and other mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies.
3. Positive Psychology and Well-Being Theory.
4 Psychobiology and Cognitive Neuroscience.
For the past 10 years, the Shearers have used Mindful Choices Therapy on hundreds of clients. The results far exceed anything they and their clients experienced when the focus was on merely reducing stress, anxiety and depression, utilizing traditional modalities.
Bill is a former high school history teacher, and is a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. Robin is a former school nurse and health educator. Bill has a doctorate from the University of Tennessee, an MBA from Pepperdine University, and an MPH (Masters in Public Health) from Loma Linda University. He also has graduate degrees in education, and health services administration, five graduate degrees altogether. Robin began her career as an RN and school nurse, and has Masters degrees in public health and marriage and family therapy.
Bill has been continuously involved in teaching since 1964, when he became a twelfth grade US history teacher. He has taught University courses for several universities and is currently a professor in both an MBA program and a psychology graduate program.
Bill is uniquely qualified as a well-being coach. Besides being a licensed psychotherapist for 43 years, he has an extensive background in exercise physiology and clinical nutrition. He has been a nutrition professor at a major university for the past 15 years. He ran an addiction treatment program for 13 years. He has extensive training and numerous certifications in nutritional science, integrative medicine, and fitness. Building upon his masters degree in public health, a major portion of his practice has been devoted to wellness and health psychology.
Robin began her career as a nurse becoming a licensed therapist following the completion of her Masters in Public Health. She has worked extensively with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, but also addresses nutrition and fitness with her clients. She has a broad holistic perspective and always incorporates well-being coaching in her work.
The
Shearers’ lifelong mission is facilitating growth and change in
others. Mindful Choices Therapy has proven to be an ideal vehicle for
personal transformation to well-being.