Dr. Sandra Smith
Practical support for family and parenting challenges
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed in
- Utah
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Format
- Online sessions
About Sandra
Dr. Sandra Smith begins by focusing on common family and parenting concerns such as stress, anxiety, relationship strain, grief, and coping with life changes. She also addresses issues like addiction, sleep and eating problems, parenting challenges, anger, and self-esteem.
Dr. Smith is a licensed clinical social worker who brings calm and practical guidance to tense moments. Her voice is direct and compassionate, making it easier to take the first step.
Background and approach
Her style is warm and interactive. She listens closely and invites people to say what matters most to them. Sessions tend to center on clear goals and small, manageable steps rather than long lectures.
She uses plain language instead of jargon so families can put ideas into action at home. Dr. Smith draws on many tools to match the needs of each person.
She uses cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. Mindfulness and acceptance-based methods help with stress and lasting worries. She also offers trauma-focused work, including EMDR for those with strong trauma memories.
With 24 years of experience, she has worked in hospitals, crisis teams, and correctional settings, and has taught at college levels. That background informs a practical approach to complicated situations. Her experience includes supporting first responders, blended family issues, and aging and geriatric concerns.
Dr. Smith works in Utah and provides services in English and Spanish. She accepts international clients and uses several session formats to meet different needs.
The focus is always on helping people find clearer communication, better coping skills, and more balance in daily life.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then take values-driven action. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going, which is helpful for stress, sleep and eating concerns, and mood issues. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a trauma-focused method that works with distressing memories and reactions to reduce their emotional intensity.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will listen to your goals and preferences and then suggest which methods to try first. That choice can shift over time based on how you respond, so the process stays collaborative and flexible.
Online therapy offers practical benefits for busy families and people with limited local options. Video calls let you meet face to face from home, while phone sessions remove the need for video. Live chat and text-based messaging provide shorter, flexible ways to stay connected between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into real life and to continue work even when schedules or geography change.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
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.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Hearing impaired
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed
- Utah
- Languages
- English, Spanish
Next step
Talk to Sandra
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point