About Claudia
Claudia Smith is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in California with 40 years of professional experience. She centers sessions on a person's strengths and practical steps. Her style is straightforward and supportive.
She helps people who feel stuck take small, doable steps toward change. Claudia listens first and then offers tools that fit each person's life. She draws from client-centered methods to keep the conversation focused on what matters most to the client.
Background and approach
She also uses skills from dialectical behavior therapy to help manage intense emotions and reduce impulsive reactions. Sessions often include mindfulness exercises and short solution-focused plans so people leave with a clear next step. That approach is useful for anxiety, stress, addiction concerns, low self-esteem, depression, attention challenges, grief, and questions about life purpose.
Claudia also addresses issues connected to adoption and foster care, attachment, blended family concerns, and chronic illness. People describe working on concrete skills in sessions, like emotion regulation, grounding practices, and problem-solving for everyday situations. The work can include coaching-style guidance for motivation and building confidence.
Claudia supports exploration of family of origin patterns, codependency, and recovery from substance issues when these topics come up. Her experience spans many settings over four decades, and she aims to make therapy practical and manageable. Sessions are paced to fit each person's needs and goals, with an emphasis on small wins and steady progress.
How Claudia’s Approaches Work Online
Claudia uses client-centered work that keeps the conversation focused on the person’s priorities. That means sessions start with listening and then move to whatever the client identifies as most important, whether that is reducing anxiety or building confidence.She also uses dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. These practical skills help when emotions feel intense or when impulsive reactions cause problems in daily life.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Claudia will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals and preferences. She checks in regularly and adjusts the focus as needs change so the plan stays useful and realistic.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for full conversations and exercises that use visual cues, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be used for shorter check-ins, and text messaging supports brief reflections or between-session prompts. These options make therapy more flexible for people managing busy schedules, travel, or health constraints.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does Claudia address?
What is her general approach in sessions?
How much experience does she have?
What credentials and region are listed for this therapist?
Are sessions offered in languages other than English?
Which session formats are available?
How much do sessions cost?
How do I begin working with Claudia?
What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Fatherhood issues
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 40 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.