About Vanessa
Vanessa Smith is a licensed clinician who brings six years of counseling experience to her work in Louisiana. She holds the Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) credentials and focuses on practical help for everyday struggles. Her style is warm and interactive and she aims to help people make meaningful changes in their lives.
Vanessa listens first and follows the lead of the person in front of her.
Background and approach
She uses a person-centered attitude that treats each client as the expert on their own life. Sessions are conversational and collaborative, with an emphasis on clear steps people can try between meetings. She helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and grief.
She also supports those working through addiction, relationship strain, parenting challenges, and life changes like job loss. She works with issues such as self-esteem, trauma and abuse, bipolar concerns, compassion fatigue, and questions about life purpose. Her approach draws on several practical methods.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people spot and change unhelpful thinking patterns. Motivational Interviewing supports people who want to make changes but feel stuck. Solution-Focused techniques are used to set small, achievable goals.
Clients can expect straightforward, empathetic care aimed at real-world outcomes. Vanessa emphasizes pacing that fits each person, and she partners with clients to build skills and notice progress over time.
How Vanessa’s Approaches Translate to Online Care
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and following the client’s lead. The therapist creates space for people to name what matters and supports them as they build insight and choices. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks down problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical tools to change patterns that cause distress. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adds skills for managing strong emotions and improving relationships when moods are intense.Figuring out which approach fits best is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and how a method feels in practice. They adjust techniques over time so the plan matches what actually helps the person moving forward.
Online therapy offers several flexible ways to connect. Video calls let people use visual cues and have deeper conversations. Phone sessions can be a good choice when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for brief updates, quick coping reminders, or when typing feels easier than talking. These options help people fit therapy into busy schedules and keep continuity when life is unpredictable.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Bipolar disorder
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas
- Languages
- English