About

Hi! My name is Stephanie Smith. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master of Science degree in Mental Health Counseling and an undergraduate degree in Psychology. I have experience with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, depression, Bipolar Disorder, self-esteem issues and adjustment disorders that sometimes occur with the chaos and stressors that life presents to us at any moment. In addition to working with adults, I also work with children and adolescents with issues like OCD, separation anxiety, ADD/ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

I firmly believe that we have a choice in how we respond to events that happen, and that we are not doomed to circumstance. Because of this, there is hope. We can be empowered as human beings to be creators of our own destinies.

I use a variety of modalities in my therapeutic interventions, including Applied Behavior Analysis techniques (the main therapeutic approach for Autism Spectrum Disorder), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (both consisting of skills that assist with changing our destructive thought patterns), and I borrow techniques from Dialectical Behavior Therapy including mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance skills for diagnoses such as Borderline Personality Disorder or issues with anger.

My therapeutic foundation is rooted in the belief that we are doing the best we can with what we know and what we have been given in life. Even with maladaptive coping skills, we engage in them because they work. I come from a warm, nonjudgmental and validating stance and am very person-centered. I love helping clients reframe the negative stories they tell themselves, and to foster more constructive coping skills to get those same results that negative coping skills may achieve but also result in dire consequences. Just as we learn these unhealthy coping mechanisms, the good news is we can unlearn them too, and relearn healthy ways of being in the world and coping with what life brings.