About Sandra
Dr. Sandra Smith is a licensed clinical social worker with 24 years of experience helping people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, phobias, and relationship struggles. She works with individuals on issues like grief, parenting, addiction, sleep and eating concerns, anger, self-esteem, and life changes.
Sandy speaks English and Spanish and sees clients in Utah as well as international clients. She uses a practical, warm, and interactive style in sessions. Conversations are guided by the person's priorities and paced to fit their needs.
Background and approach
She favors approaches that teach skills and create small, steady changes rather than quick fixes. Her background spans hospitals, crisis teams, family- and trauma-centered agencies, and many years as a primary clinician in a corrections setting. She has also taught counseling at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Those varied roles inform how she assesses safety, coping, and day-to-day functioning. In sessions she looks at life as a whole - physical, social, spiritual, financial, and emotional pieces all matter. That helps uncover patterns rooted in family history, past trauma, or long-held beliefs that keep people stuck.
She also supports people dealing with the aftermath of abuse and helps loved ones understand and respond to trauma histories. Sandy blends structured methods with listening and empathy. She encourages practical exercises between sessions.
The work often includes trying out new behaviors, noticing what gets in the way, and building skills that fit a person's real life. People who choose her can expect straightforward guidance and a focus on everyday changes. She aims to help people reengage with relationships, work, and life purpose at a pace that feels manageable.
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Dr. Smith commonly integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy into her online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice hard thoughts and feelings while choosing actions that match their values; it is useful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking patterns and testing small behavior changes to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep or eating difficulties.Finding the right approach is part of the collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals and preferences, try techniques in session, and adjust the plan based on what helps. That teamwork helps match methods to real-life needs rather than relying on a single approach.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more flexible. Video calls are good for a full conversational session and skill practice, phone works well for check-ins or when bandwidth is limited, live chat can serve as a shorter touchpoint, and text messaging supports ongoing coaching-style check-ins between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, or travel schedules while still accessing licensed professionals.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Hearing impaired
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed
- Utah
- Languages
- English, Spanish
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