About Shawn
Shawn Smith is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Louisiana who uses a client-centered approach to help people facing tough life moments. She brings 30 years of experience and focuses on practical changes that make daily life feel more manageable. Shawn helps people cope with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and anger.
She also supports those dealing with trauma and abuse, parenting strain, relationship trouble, and problems around self-esteem.
How Shawn works
Her work includes attention to issues such as abandonment, codependency, communication problems, domestic violence, and sexual assault and abuse. In sessions she emphasizes clear communication and real skills. She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot unhelpful thoughts and Dialectical Behavior Therapy for managing strong emotions.
Mindfulness practices and motivational interviewing are used to build motivation and steady attention to goals. Shawn aims for straightforward, respectful conversations that focus on concrete steps. She helps people sharpen communication, rebuild self-worth, and find practical coping strategies.
The goal is steady progress rather than quick fixes. Over three decades she has worked with a range of concerns tied to family problems, women's issues, veteran and armed forces challenges, and young adult issues. Her background supports a down-to-earth approach that honors each person’s story while concentrating on change that matters.
Shawn lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Shawn works with
The areas below are the ones Shawn selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Anger management
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Stress, Anxiety
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 30 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Louisiana |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Practical therapy approaches for online care
Shawn often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people spot and change unhelpful thought patterns that increase anxiety or low mood. CBT focuses on small, actionable steps that reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning.She also draws on Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance. DBT skills are useful for managing intense feelings, handling conflict, and reducing impulsive reactions. Mindfulness practices are woven in to help increase awareness and steady attention during stressful moments.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Shawn will discuss goals, preferences, and what feels useful, then adapt methods to fit those needs. That collaborative planning helps decide whether CBT, DBT, or mindfulness techniques will be emphasized in sessions.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit a busy life. Video is good for face-to-face conversation and guided exercises, phone works when bandwidth is limited, live chat or text messaging can be a shorter check-in or a way to stay connected between longer sessions. These options aim to make it easier to keep regular appointments and to practice new skills in real time.
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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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