Mary Smith

I’m a doctoral-prepared Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than a decade of experience in behavioral health, including private practice and extensive work within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Over the years, I’ve worked with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families experiencing everything from anxiety and relationship difficulties to trauma, PTSD, substance use concerns, ADHD, emotional dysregulation, and more complex mental health concerns.

I tend to work well with people whose experiences don’t fit neatly into one box. Sometimes you understand exactly why you feel or behave a certain way but still can’t figure out how to change it. Other times, you may not know what is happening—you just know that something isn’t working anymore. Therapy can be a place to slow that process down, understand the patterns underneath it, and figure out what actually helps.

My clinical background includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)-informed interventions, substance use treatment, trauma-informed care, and Gottman Method approaches for couples. Rather than forcing everyone into the same treatment model, I draw from different approaches based on the person in front of me, what we are trying to accomplish, and what makes sense for their life.

I earned my Master of Social Work and Doctor of Social Work from the University of Southern California and am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in both Florida and Tennessee.

My approach is collaborative, practical, and individualized. I want to understand not only what you are experiencing, but what is happening underneath it—what triggers the pattern, what your brain and body have learned to do in response, what keeps the cycle going, and what might actually interrupt it.

I use evidence-based approaches, including CBT, CPT, DBT-informed interventions, motivational interviewing, and Gottman Method principles, but I don’t believe therapy needs to feel like someone is reading a treatment manual at you. We may examine thoughts and behavioral patterns, practice skills, map out cycles, explore relationships, or look at how past experiences continue to influence what happens in the present.

I also believe understanding matters. I want you to leave therapy knowing more about yourself and having something useful to work with outside of the therapy room—not simply knowing the name of another coping skill.

The first session is primarily about understanding you and what brought you to therapy. We’ll talk about what has been happening, what you would like to be different, what you have already tried, and what you believe may be getting in the way.

I’ll ask questions to better understand the larger picture, but I also want to hear how you make sense of what is happening. You are the person living your life every day, and that perspective matters.

You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what your goals are or how to explain everything perfectly. Part of our work can be figuring that out together. By the end of the first few sessions, I want us to have a clearer understanding of the patterns we are working with, what you want from therapy, and where it makes the most sense to begin.