About Nicholas
Nicholas Smith is a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC) in Illinois who helps people who feel stuck, unmotivated, or ready to make a change. He focuses on practical steps that match a person's values and goals. Sessions aim to make emotions easier to manage and thoughts easier to understand.
Nicholas uses plain, direct conversation to help people notice patterns in thinking and behavior. He breaks down how thoughts begin and offers ways to challenge unhelpful thinking.
How Nicholas works
Work in sessions tends to include small, doable changes rather than big, abstract promises. His background includes work in a student counseling center at Moody Bible Institute, an inpatient psychiatric unit at a hospital, independent practice, and a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center.
Those settings shaped his approach and gave him exposure to many kinds of struggles over 13 years in the field. He draws on several therapeutic methods and picks what fits the person in front of him. Therapy may include learning new skills, practicing mindfulness, or creating clear steps toward a valued life.
Nicholas describes counseling as a collaborative process where the client helps set the pace. People who come to him often want help with stress, anxiety, depression, sleep or coping with big life changes. He also addresses relationship concerns, addiction and issues like shame, emptiness, or difficulty committing.
The goal is steady progress through focused, practical work.
Nicholas lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Nicholas works with
The areas below are the ones Nicholas selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Parenting issues
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
Training and background
| Register | LCPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 13 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Illinois |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Practical approaches for online therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people live according to their values while accepting difficult feelings. It helps when someone feels stuck or unclear about their next steps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and behaviors and teaches skills to change unhelpful patterns. It is useful for anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers concrete skills for managing intense emotions and improving relationships, and it often helps when stress or anger feel overwhelming.Nicholas treats finding the right approach as a team effort. He will talk with each person about their goals and try different elements to see what fits. That collaborative process helps shape which methods are used and how sessions are structured.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to offer flexibility. Video is good for face-to-face work and practicing skills together, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat or text messaging suit quick check-ins or shorter exchanges. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and keep momentum between sessions.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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