My communication style is warm, collaborative, and focused on your unique needs and goals. I aim to create a safe, non-judgmental space for you to process your experiences and emotions.

Lisa Smith, LCSW. I offer a safe familiarity to open possibilities to life's issues. I am practical yet push a shared agenda to fray the stuck, transitional or chronic issue. I work with PTSD, SUD, process addictions, end of life, disassociation, depression and LGBTQIA+ to make it normal for you to be on your path. I practice Problem Solving, Cognitive Behavioral, Internal Family Systems, complementary alternative medicine, harm reduction and integration for support psychedelics. I will introduce what is key features in these paradigms until we find what resonates with you. You showing up in a therapeutic milieu is an exciting step. We will work for you to feel better from our first session together. We will have an agreed upon take away for you to consider in between sessions. Your commitment to yourself will grow outside of the time we spend together. I enjoy the entrenched over thinker. I invite you to find wiggle room in the super powers of ADHD. I enjoy the mature client who is carrying a medicine bag of life's tools and needs confidence to practice. All clients who are ready to prioritize and coordinate finding their "self" is an appreciated persona. I am unapologetic to offer harm reduction and integration for psychedelic medicines. Many are trying to follow the science of these illegal substances and I want to offer a space for discussion of harm reduction and integration. Being heard in a safe, nonjudgmental space gives you a stable platform for guided healing. My voice is warm and direct. I have 30 years experience of walking through our shadow selves. Selves we can reconnect with love, humor and grace. I was raised in a family of privilege with a strong sense of right and wrong. Foibles, depression, and anxiety were sources of blame and shame. Negative voices of other people's failure were normal. Support came at a cost of guilt at weakness. I discovered being supported and making small steps keep a little thing from lingering and growing. I am especially encouraged by the alternative therapies emerging. I feel antidepressants and mood stabilizers are not effective for everyone. I want to give access and information for individuals and couples to enjoy life. Goals are easy to set because they represent what brought you to therapy. At the end of each session, we make a list of what the week will look like working towards your goal. The first session is to get to know you and start a dialogue. It's the start of therapy and there will be suggestions for you to try to feel better.

I believe that the innate nature of human beings is to survive and be well, and that varying degrees of life experience and trauma create psychic structures that inhibit that natural process from occurring. My job is to help client's develop compassionate awareness for these structures that are no longer functional in their lives and help them to build tolerance for the underlying feelings being protected by these structures. And ultimately to help client's choose and develop healthier more functional thoughts, feelings and behaviors to expand their well being, life satisfaction and treat themselves with loving kindness.

If you are going through a difficult time, finding a therapist should be the least stressful part of your journey. I am a licensed clinical professional counselor, and I have been working in the field of counseling for over twenty years now. I have worked with many issues, including depression, anxiety, life transitions and trauma. I will always work to provide an empathetic non-judgmental and safe space. If you are stuck or sick of struggling please reach out. Please call or email the office. I would love to hear from you to see how we can begin working together.

I like to describe my therapeutic style as eclectic. I pull from many different modalities to find what works best for each individual client. I believe that nothing in life is one size fits all and therapy is no different. Each individual needs something different when they engage in therapy and I strive to help my clients based on their individual needs. I like to take time to get to know my patients at to work collaboratively with them to create goals that make sense for their lives and needs. I primarily work with adolescents, teens, and young adults. I love working with these age groups because there is so much change happening during this time in someone's life. I am a fairly casual person and (when appropriate) like to use humor to connect and engage. I also am a bit of a nerd and have at least a basic to moderate understanding of many of the things that the younger generations enjoy (video games, TikTok, memes, movies, tv, etc.). I love to use this to connect with my clients and to allow them to feel seen.

Do you have ruminations that are self-critical? Do you avoid going out or joining social activities? Or maybe you become overwhelmed by anger, fear, shame, dread? Life doesn't have to be that hard. I believe that our behavior patterns are old ways of surviving difficult situations. I bring years of personal and professional experiences and training to foster a safe and collaborative relationship to be curious about your responses, update your system, so to speak, and learn and practice new skills.

It can be daunting to make the decision to reach out and contact a therapist. Just by doing this, you are already taking the first step towards reaching your goals. Whether you are seeking counseling for yourself or for your child, taking the initiative can be scary. I work to create a positive and supportive environment in order to alleviate some of those fears. I believe that therapy should not be a space where you have to worry about being judged. As a counselor, I believe it is my role to give you unconditional positive regard. This doesn’t mean that I will never challenge you or give you a dose of reality, but instead that I will never judge you for simply being who you are. Going to therapy and opening up to a stranger can be scary, but together we can work towards getting you to where you want to be. In addition to individual and couples work, I also work with preteens, teens, and their families to develop effective communication while also focusing on your teen’s growth, identity development, thoughts, and emotions. Being a teenager can be an exciting, confusing, and scary time. The support of a trained therapist allows for a safe, nonjudgmental space for teens to process life's hardships, learn more about who they are, and gain the skills they need to navigate the future. I believe that empathy and building the therapeutic relationship is the biggest factor in the work we can do together. While I bring a person-centered approach and mindfulness into almost all of my sessions, I don’t believe therapy is one-size-fits-all. This means that I will always take into account individual situations and preferences to make sure our time together is focused on your or your teen’s unique needs and goals. I am trauma-informed, LGBTQIA+ allied, sex-worker allied, and multi-culturally focused.

Life can be very confusing. When a person walks into a therapy room for the first time, they are often emotionally bruised and looking for some clarity about their world and their own responses to events and circumstances. It is a privilege for me as a therapist to help the people I work with to make sense of it all. I help my clients learn to listen to themselves with respect, compassion, and curiosity. People can develop this courageous curiosity when they learn to have faith that whatever they find out about themselves makes sense and is coming from a decent place. It is often difficult to cultivate the habit of validating one's own thoughts and feelings (especially if one has long experience of doing the opposite), but it is extremely rewarding as the changes begin to be noticeable.

Our approach is first and foremost to offer acceptance and understanding. Our clinicians have a variety of theoretical orientations and approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, play therapy, attachment-based therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and interpersonal therapy. All of us have training and experience with a family systems approach to therapy and are able to integrate this into our work.

If we could think our way into the life we wanted, we would already be there. But healing and growth is not simply about thinking. It is about attending to our feelings, accepting ourselves where we are, and believing in possibilities. The Four Corners Counseling & Well-being way of therapy, practiced by the founder, Hetty Barnett, and all associates: For Thinking Women (and Men, too): Are you struggling to feel better about yourself and your life? If you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, if your relationships are causing pain or confusion, we can help. We know from hard-earned experience that being an intelligent "over-functioner" does not mean we can easily soothe our emotional pain and create a balanced life. My associates and I can help you tap into your inner wisdom and strength to create the life you desire. For couples on the brink: At Four Corners Counseling & Well-being, we believe that couples deserve a safe space and a competent therapist to help them navigate their relationship, and move beyond problems to possibilities. This work is sacred, and couples who seek our help are doing so not only for themselves, but for the benefit of their children (if there are any), for their families, and for future generations. We have no pre-determined expectation of how a relationship will unfold. We do firmly believe that any work the members of a couple do to speak for their feelings (not from them) and listen to their partner from a grounded sense of self can reap many benefits in the future, no matter what the outcome. People can grow; people DO grow as they work with me. It takes a village to raise a relationship, and we want to be part of that village. Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy: We are trained in IFS, the fastest growing therapy model today. As a clinical treatment, IFS has been rated effective for improving general functioning and well-being. In addition, it has been rated promising for improving phobia, panic, and generalized anxiety disorders; trauma resolution; physical health conditions; personal resilienceself-concept; and depression and depressive symptoms. Internal Family Systems can help clients learn ways to better relate to themselves, and move toward the 8 C’s of Self-Leadership: calmness, curiosity, clarity, compassion, confidence, creativity, courage, and connectedness.

WE CAN HELP HEAL YOUR RELATIONSHIP. "Why does my partner overreact?" "Why do I get so triggered?" "How come the punishment doesn't fit the crime?" “Why can’t he be more supportive?” “Is anything I do ever enough for her?” While you are feeling hurt, you have an added layer of confusion. You simultaneously love your partner and even hope to stay in this relationship to keep your love, family, and dreams intact. You are torn in a tug-of-war of emotions and desire to feel understood, accepted, and embraced by your partner. HEAL YOUR RELATIONSHIP AT ITS ROOT! Your dynamic is being driven by vulnerable and deep emotions. Those deep emotions are sensitive ‘raw spots' that are easily provoked and can cause you intolerable emotional discomfort- and leads to a “fight-or-flight” (anxious, angry, avoidant) response. This starts a negative cycle that creates more distance between you. CHANGE IS POSSIBLE! In therapy with us, you will learn strategies to respond differently and avoid slipping into old negative cycles of criticism, questioning, defensiveness, shutting down, and avoidance. We’ve helped HUNDREDS of people experience EMOTIONAL INTIMACY by learning how to effectively share and receive each other’s deeper emotions.

Your struggles are unique and complex. As a psychologist my aim is to help you explore your personal narratives, to understand how your past is affecting your present and keeping you from fulfilling your values. Whether you are experiencing difficulty with relationships, life events, healing from trauma, or simply don't find yourself enjoying your life as you once did, I will help you feel grounded while we gain a non-judgmental perspective on your struggles and put our minds together to strategize ways forward. I specialize in treatments for trauma, depression, anxiety, job stress, and relationship issues. I take a pragmatic and eclectic approach by integrating psychodynamic theories with evidence-based tools. I draw on treatments ranging from CBT, ACT, and CPT, tailoring treatment to your unique needs and experiences. I completed advanced training at Haverford College and the Dept. of Veteran Affairs Hospital where I continue to work as a trauma specialist. Finding a therapist you click with can be a daunting task but is a key part of healing. In therapy, I am open, creative, and curious. If my approach sounds right for you or if you’d like to learn more, please do not hesitate to reach out or visit my site to schedule an appointment for a free consultation. It would be my privilege to speak with you.