Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith, LPC, Psychotherapist & Director

Specializations: Couples counseling, individual relationship therapy, sex therapy, premarital counseling, trauma, anxiety, LGBTQIA+

Pronouns: she, her

Therapy can help you gain insight and learn practical strategies to strengthen your relationships and live life more fully and joyfully. Working together, I can help you explore and learn to manage problems and feelings that may seem overwhelming.

As a client-centered psychotherapist, I’ll listen deeply to you and will help you identify your counseling goals, as well as obstacles to achieving those goals.

I provide an affirming, supportive environment to explore your issues. Depending on your goals, therapy may include mindfulness, psychodynamic approaches, cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, EMDR, expressive arts therapy, and other approaches.

When working with couples, I draw from Existential Couples Therapy, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, Imago Relationship Therapy, Gottman Relationship Therapy, and sex therapy because I’ve found that they’re the most successful approaches to healing and strengthening relationships. I work with LGBTQIA+ and heterosexual couples, and I’m a kink-affirmative clinician.

Training & Experience

  • MS, Counseling, Johns Hopkins University
  • MS, PhD training, Sociolinguistics (Multicultural Communication), Georgetown University
  • BA, University of California, Santa Cruz

Advanced Postgraduate Training

  • Sex Therapy Clinical Program, University of Michigan
  • Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Externship
  • Imago Relationship Therapy
  • Gottman Couples Therapy
  • Fellowship, Contemporary Forms of Psychoanalysis, ICP+P
  • EMDR Therapy, Trauma Institute
  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD
  • Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, Polaris Insight Center
  • MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD, MAPS

Experience

  • Aida Therapy, Washington, DC
  • Montgomery County Commission for Women Counseling and Career Center,  Rockville, MD
  • NIH Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD
  • American University, Kogod Center for Career Development, Washington, DC
  • Georgetown University and Chiang Mai University, Thailand, Adjunct Faculty
  • U.S. Department of Education, Senior Advisor

Credentials

  • Licensed Professional Counselor, Washington, DC
  • National Board Certified Counselor
  • AASECT Certified Sex Therapist

Affiliations

  • American Counseling Association
  • Mid Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society
  • International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy
  • American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Sex Therapists
  • Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling
  • SAIGE: Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersectional, and Gender Expansive Identities

Articles

Presentations

  • Modern Love: A Comparison of the Relationship Satisfaction of Same-Sex Married Couples and Heterosexual Married Couples in their 20s, Johns Hopkins University
  • Multicultural Communication Training, NIH Clinical Center
  • Maintaining Inner Peace workshop, presented with Elizabeth Nyang, LCPC, Montgomery County Commission for Women
  • Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in a Challenging Economy workshop, Kogod School of Business, American University
  • Enhancing your Support System workshop, Montgomery County Commission for Women
  • Depression in Lawyers: A Group Therapy Approach to Treatment, Johns Hopkins University
  • Art Spa: Exploring Life Stories through Art & Writing, An Experiential Workshop Series for Therapists, Washington, DC
  • Art Spa: Creative Self-Care for Therapists Workshop, Washington, DC

Specializations

Contact: 202.540.8244, lisa@lisasmithpsychotherapy.com

Lisa Smith Psychotherapy, 1801 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009 (Dupont Circle Metro)