Kelly Smith, LCSW

Kelly Smith is a licensed clinical social worker with thirty years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. Kelly is comfortable talking about relationship concerns, intimacy, LGBTQ issues, addiction, grief, and the everyday strains of parenting. The first conversations focus on what matters most to the person sitting across from them and on practical steps forward.

Kelly uses an approach that blends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with client-centered listening and elements of dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness. Sessions often include clear, concrete tools to change unhelpful thinking and habits, paired with space to reflect on feelings and values. The work mixes skill practice with gentle reflection so clients learn new ways to cope and relate.

Over three decades Kelly has supported people through big life changes, chronic stress, mood shifts, and trauma recovery. Kelly draws on broad clinical experience and supervision background to tailor sessions to each person’s history and goals. The tone in sessions is warm, respectful, and interactive.

Practical issues such as managing anger, improving communication, navigating adoption or foster care concerns, and addressing body image or intimacy worries are commonly addressed. Kelly also brings experience with ADHD, compassion fatigue, bipolar concerns, and complex attachment or personality-related struggles.

Kelly practices in Virginia as an LCSW, and provides therapy in English. New conversations begin by looking at immediate needs and building a simple plan for change.

How different therapy approaches work online

Kelly commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try small behavior changes that can reduce anxiety and low mood. CBT focuses on clear steps and exercises you can practice between sessions. Kelly also uses Client-Centered Therapy, which emphasizes listening, validation, and shaping sessions around what the person finds most important. That approach helps people feel heard while they figure out goals and values. Dialectical Behavior Therapy is used for building emotion-regulation and interpersonal skills through concrete strategies and practice in real life.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Kelly will ask about goals, daily routines, and what has or hasn’t helped in the past, then suggest approaches to try. Decisions about methods and techniques are made collaboratively and can be adjusted as needs change.

Online therapy with Kelly is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care flexible. Video sessions allow face-to-face interaction for skills practice, phone calls can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat works for shorter check-ins, and text messaging can support ongoing coaching between appointments. These options help fit therapy into work, family, or travel schedules while keeping focus on practical change.