Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala, PhD

Dr. Sauer-Zavala is clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience working with people struggling with anxiety and depression. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky (UK) where she develops new treatments for common mental health conditions and tests them in rigorous clinical trials. Dr. Sauer-Zavala is the lead developer of a short-term intervention personality difficulties to address common mental health problems – COMPASS (a loose acronym for cognitive behavioral modules for personality symptoms). Dr. Sauer-Zavala is also the Founder and Director of Compass Mental Health Training & Consulting, through which she has been invited all over the country and the world (Ireland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Canada) to train therapists in her potent, parsimonious interventions. 

Dr. Sauer-Zavala received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from UK in 2011; she completed her predoctoral residency at Duke University Medical Center and her postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University. Dr. Sauer-Zavala is well-regarded in her field. She has co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and an academic book on personality. Her research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and the Templeton Foundation. Her work is internationally respected – in 2023 alone, Dr. Sauer-Zavala was invited to give keynote talks at mental health conferences in Sydney, Australia and Cambridge, UK. She also has also worked closely with the Canadian government to develop a mental health prevention program from cadets training to become Royal Canadian Mounted Police (i.e., “Mounties”) officers.