Mission Statement
To inspire more positive attitudes, relationships and experiences.
-Dr. Paul F. Schmidt
Paul Frederick Schmidt, Ph.D.
Education
1965 – 1969 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
B.A., cum laude, with honors in psychology
1970 – 1974 University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
M.A., Clinical Psychology, August, 1972
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, August, 1974, 5-yr. GPA – 3.91 out of 4
2006 CSAT Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
2016 CMAT Certified Multiple Addictions Therapist
International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, Phoenix, AZ
Employment
1978 thru 9/19/2025 Full time practice of clinical psychology in Louisville, Shelbyville, and Lexington
1989 – 2001 Founder, Director and owner of New Life Counseling Center, Louisville KY
1974 – 1978 Chief Psychologist at a residential treatment center for children and teens, within Central State Hospital, Louisville
Publications
Schmidt, Paul F., Coping with Difficult People, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980. Book on relating to people who have personality disorders.
Schmidt, Paul F., Growing Your Love Life, Charleston, SC: Booksurge, 2007. Subtitled, “Vital Balance in Single Adult Relationships.”
Schmidt, Paul F., The Character Assessment Scale. Copyrighted test materials and manual published by the Institute of Character Assessment, 1981. Presented also to the 1981 annual convention of the American Psychological Association, and sold in over a dozen countries.
Schmidt, Paul F. The Better Life Test, Creative Commons Copyright, 2020. Free, anonymous, online test of holistic well-being, using a 2500-year-old model of wellness.
Professional Affiliations
Wellness Education for Living and Loving, Inc. Founder and Director of nonprofit that oversees education and research with two personality tests he has published: the Character Assessment Scale and the Better Life Test (see to-the-well.org for that test and curated resources).
Kentucky Psychological Association, ethics chair 1987 to 1990
Christian Association for Psychological Studies International, workshop chair 1990, 1996
Mental Health America of Kentucky
Books and Publications
Schmidt, Paul F., Coping with Difficult People, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980. Book on relating to people who have personality disorders.
Schmidt, Paul F., Growing Your Love Life, Charleston, SC: Booksurge, 2007. Subtitled, “Vital Balance in Single Adult Relationships.”
Schmidt, Paul F., The Character Assessment Scale. Copyrighted test materials and manual published by the Institute of Character Assessment, 1981. Presented also to the 1981 annual convention of the American Psychological Association , and sold in over a dozen countries.
Schmidt, Paul F. Sex: Is it an Addiction? Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 2006. An educational pamphlet for churches about sexual addiction.
Schmidt, Paul F., Five journal articles, researching moral values, self-esteem, and ethics, in The Journal of Pastoral Care, The Journal of Psychology and Theology, and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity.
Schmidt, Paul F., over a dozen solo presentations to national, regional, and state professional conferences, on the 3 subjects above plus single adult relationships, addiction to computer pornography, and the Character Assessment Scale.
Schmidt, Paul F. The Traditional Assessment of Wellness, Creative Commons Copyright, 2020. This free, anonymous, online test of personal well-being was first hosted by LimeSurvey in 2018, and will soon be back online hosted by the GPL3 platform for nonprofits. Its presentation and research is being overseen by Wellness Education for Living and Loving, Inc., soon to be hosted at www.to-the-well.org.
How I work
I am the go-to Christian Counselor for the Louisville area for individual and marital recovery from infidelity and addictive behavior.
Unlike most counselors, I will give you lots of feedback during the first session. My goal is always for you to outgrow the regularly scheduled portion of our relationship. I want you to have a taste of what my feedback, guidance and encouragement feels like before you decide whether to come back. I often give my feedback on a digital file sent to your email. All this takes time, so I give 75 minutes to the first session.
For those who come back, the next few sessions continue to be as much diagnosis as counseling. I listen to you tell your story of how you and others have tried to solve your problems before I try to offer many new solutions. We build together a base of understanding from which we can plan your life. We collaborate to reexamine your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the situations which are giving you problems.
Counseling helps you to learn more effective ways to cope with those situations, and with similar situations in the future. Together, you and I will identify the goals of counseling, and discuss how you can reach those goals. The terms for working together are spelled out on my Work With Me page. Head there to find out more!
My Approach
Research shows that psychotherapy can be very effective in solving personal problems. Nine out of ten Americans surveyed by Consumer Reports who had had counseling said that it had helped them in their lives. A review in the American Psychologist of over 75 studies concluded that psychotherapy is even more effective when clients know that they share major values and beliefs with their counselor. It is not my job to promote my values and beliefs with my clients, but rather to use theirs to help them solve their problems. But if you want to check and see how compatible your priorities and lifestyle are with mine, click on Values & Beliefs under the “About Me” in the menu above.
Specialties
- Individual, Marital, and Family Counseling
- Life Coaching sessions may be inside or outside the office, or in a secure, encrypted Zoom room
- Sexual Performance Disorders
- Single Adult Relationships
- Twelve Step Recovery
- Psychological Testing
- Sexual Addiction
- Career Guidance
- Marital Infidelity
- Public Speaking
Credentials
1965 – 1969 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
B.A., cum laude, with honors in psychology
1970 – 1974 University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
M.A., Clinical Psychology, August, 1972
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, August, 1974, 5-yr. GPA – 3.91 out of 4
2006 CSAT Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, Phoenix, AZ
Publications
Schmidt, Paul F., Coping with Difficult People, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980.
Schmidt, Paul F., Growing Your Love Life, Charleston, SC: Booksurge, 2007.
Schmidt, Paul F., The Character Assessment Scale. 1981.
My Values and Beliefs
A recent Gallup poll reported that 2 out of 3 Americans want their mental health professionals to have spiritual values and beliefs, and 4 out of 5 Americans want to have their own values and beliefs integrated into their counseling process. Research has consistently found that people get more out of counseling when they know that their counselors share their values and beliefs. My clients have a right to know what I believe and value, if they so choose. I write this not to convert anyone to the way I think and feel. Instead, I try to work with the faith and traditions of the people who hire me. If people wish to work with my values and beliefs as well, or if people need to determine how compatible the lives they want to live are with the one I am already living, I describe it to you here, in “How I Live."
I am a Christian who feels called and gifted to be a counselor. I believe that my faith and my training are very compatible, that observing professional ethics and standards are necessary to being a good witness for my Lord Jesus Christ, that the compassion and wisdom I have been given are gifts from God that are very therapeutic, designed to grow in me as I give them away. My clients pay for my time and my training, not to receive gifts that were given freely to me. I believe that being pro-spiritual, pro-family, and pro-health go hand in hand. My priorities are God, health, family, work, and then my friends and church family.
The God of my understanding is also the God of recovery. Since 1983, the people and principles of the twelve steps have played a key role in my recovery from the disease of sin, from the many character defects that I would otherwise rely on to avoid pain in my life. When my selfish habits arise in me, I seek to confess, discipline, and surrender them to God and God’s people. This helps me help my clients recover from their own negative attitudes, and find the true freedom that I believe can only come in voluntary service to a higher power.
Finally, I am a warrior in a spiritual war. The fruits of the spirit I keenly appreciate: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, acceptance, courage, wisdom, and a love of life with a sense of humor, among others. These I give and receive with a passion to the best of my ability in my personal life, so through me they can be imparted to my clients. Likewise my war is against the fruits of selfishness: fear, sexual immorality, lust, idolizing, resentment, fighting, jealousy, envy, arrogance, greed, addictions, laziness, dishonesty, disloyalty, and just taking ourselves too seriously, to name a few. If you are wanting to enlist in this war, I will be highly honored to work with you and walk beside you in the great adventure of Life.
[1] A review of 75 studies and articles by Allen Bergin in The American Psychologist, April, 1991, entitled “Values and Religious Issues in Psychotherapy and Mental Health.”
* The Christian Counseling Connection, American Association of Christian Counselors, 2009, 16, 4, p.15.