PuttingFamilyFirst

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RS Portrait of Rilda Smith
Online therapist

Rilda Smith

Compassionate therapy grounded in relationships

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Credentials
LMFT
Experience
22 years
Licensed in
Oklahoma
Languages
English
Format
Online sessions

About Rilda

Rilda Smith is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist with 22 years of experience. She speaks plain language and helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, grief, sleep problems, and life changes. She also supports those facing compassion fatigue, anger, low self-esteem, depression, ADHD, and parenting challenges.

Sessions are offered in English and Rilda accepts international clients. Rilda emphasizes understanding problems in the context of a person’s wider relationships.

Background and approach

She listens first, then helps people identify small, practical steps to reduce distress. She uses familiar tools from therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness to address day-to-day struggles such as sleep and anxiety. Her style is collaborative and respectful.

She focuses on what the client already knows about their life and builds on those strengths. That approach often includes looking at patterns in how people communicate and cope, and trying new ways of responding. Rilda has worked with people through many kinds of loss and transitions, including grief that is not only about death.

She also has experience with caregiver stress, financial worries, attachment and abandonment concerns, and issues tied to cultural transitions. Practical strategies for managing emotions and improving communication are common parts of her sessions. To begin, Rilda asks clients to share their story and goals.

She helps set realistic steps so progress feels manageable. Her goal is to help people feel more steady and able to handle what life brings next.

Therapeutic approaches and what online therapy looks like

Rilda often draws from Client-Centered Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and understanding your experience without judgment, helping you find your own path forward. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns, which is useful for anxiety, sleep issues, and anger.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Rilda will talk with you about your goals and preferences, and together you decide which methods to try. She adjusts techniques based on how they fit your life and what helps you make steady progress.

Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and comfort levels. These options make it easier to meet from home, while keeping work or caregiving routines intact. Rilda uses these formats to teach coping skills, guide mindfulness exercises, review behavioral practice, and maintain steady support between meetings.

Client-Centered Therapy

The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.

Mindfulness Therapy

Attention training: noticing thoughts and physical feelings as they arrive without being carried off by them. Much of it is practice you do yourself, so guidance over video or audio works much as it would in person.

Frequently asked questions

What concerns does she commonly address?
Rilda works with stress, anxiety, grief, sleep problems, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, relationship and parenting challenges, eating and anger issues, self-esteem, career and depression, and ADHD. She also focuses on areas like abandonment, attachment, caregiver stress, and financial worries.
How would you describe her therapy style?
She uses a collaborative, respectful style that starts with listening. Sessions look at patterns in relationships and identify practical steps people can try between meetings.
What is her experience and background?
She has 22 years of clinical experience and has worked with a wide range of challenges, including grief that is not limited to bereavement and transitions tied to cultural changes.
What credentials does she hold and where is she based?
Rilda is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist - OK LMFT LMFT00853 - and she is located in Oklahoma.
Which languages are available for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
What formats are available for meeting with her?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to provide different ways to connect.
How does pricing and payment work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I start a conversation or schedule a session?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to the therapist's availability.

Specialties and expertise

Top specialties

Also works with

Therapeutic approaches

Experience
22 years
Licensed
Oklahoma
Languages
English

Next step

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