Michelle Smith, LMHC

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Michelle Smith, LMHC Online therapy for FL, NH, OK, & OR residents including clinical hypnosis, EMDR, couples & groups! Are you struggling to cope with a new “normal” of life?

You're doing the best you can, AND you can do better! I believe everyone has the potential to manifest a life worth living, and I would love to help you take the steps towards making your vision your reality. With over 10 years’ experience in the mental health field, I have supported countless individuals achieve their goals through therapy and look forward to the opportunity to serve you today. I am formally trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and I am also a Nationally Certified Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy provider as well. I utilize an eclectic and holistic approach to support the unique needs you are coming to services to gain support for. I have worked with clients of all backgrounds from a variety of different age groups, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. I provide a client-centered, non-judgmental approach and will meet you where you are at to help support you in reaching your goals in therapy. My specialties include supporting clients with trauma, grief, life transitions, relationship loss, anxiety, codependency, post-partum mental health and motherhood transitions, compassion fatigue, LGBTQ+, ethical non-monogamy/polyamorous support and more. Every person has a unique journey and challenge in life to make meaning out of their experience with the inevitable grief, pain, uncertainty and constant work of our human experiences. The way we perceive and conceptualize our stories is what ends up dictating our own reality. It takes courage to reach out and ask for help. If you are ready to take the next step, I look forward to the opportunity to bring a fresh perspective and help you navigate to your true potential!

10/19/2026

The hardest part of making a decision isn’t always knowing what you want

It could be wanting to know that the decision will work out

That you won’t regret it.
That no one will be upset.
That you won’t get hurt.
That you won’t have to deal with consequences you weren’t prepared for.

So you keep looking for more information, more reassurance, more certainty 💯

But there simply isn’t enough certainty available to make every decision feel completely safe

A question I sometimes ask clients in those moments is:

“What would you choose if you knew you could handle the outcome?”

Not because the outcome is guaranteed to be what you want.

But because you don’t need a guarantee that everything will go perfectly in order to trust yourself to navigate what comes next 🤍

Self-trust isn’t knowing you’ll always make the “right” choice

It’s knowing you’ll be there for yourself either way

Save this question for the next time you feel stuck!

Or share it with someone who needs the reminder that they can handle what comes next. 🤍

10/16/2026

“What do you want?”

It can be a surprisingly difficult question when you’ve spent years learning to pay attention to everyone else first.

What do they need?
What will keep the peace?
What will make them happy?
What will keep them from being disappointed?
What would be easiest for everyone else?

And somewhere along the way, your own wants can become almost impossible to hear.

Learning to identify what you want isn’t selfish. It’s part of reconnecting with yourself.

You don’t have to know the answer immediately.

You can start with something as simple as:

“If I didn’t have to consider everyone else right now, what would I choose?”

That’s where self-trust begins.

Save this for the next time you catch yourself automatically asking what everyone else wants before asking yourself.

Fall can be a beautiful time of year, but it can also bring changes that affect how we feel more than we expect. 🍂Less d...
10/13/2026

Fall can be a beautiful time of year, but it can also bring changes that affect how we feel more than we expect. 🍂

Less daylight, shifts in our sleep routines, family dynamics, grief, financial stress, and the pressure that can come with the holidays can all take a toll on our mental health.

For some people, this time of year also brings a noticeable dip in mood, energy, or motivation. If you experience seasonal depression or find yourself feeling more anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected as the days get shorter, it’s worth paying attention to those changes.

And if you’ve been thinking about returning to therapy, you don’t have to wait until things feel unmanageable to make that call.

Therapy can be a place to work through what’s coming up, understand patterns that keep repeating, and build tools that help you feel more grounded as you move through the season.

You deserve support before you reach your breaking point, too. 🤎

🍁 Looking for extra support heading into the holidays?

I’ll also be offering Managing Holiday Stress & Triggers group sessions for clients in Florida, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Oregon. These sessions are an opportunity to explore the stressors that tend to surface this time of year and develop tools to navigate them with more awareness and support.

You can sign up for my newsletter through the link in my bio or visit my website to learn more about the group and upcoming dates.

✨ Ready to reconnect with your mental health?

I offer virtual therapy for adults and couples in FL, NH, OK, and OR. Book your free 15-minute consultation through the link in my bio, and we can talk about what you’re looking for, what support might look like, and whether working together feels like a good fit.

You don’t have to navigate every season on your own. 🤎

10/12/2026

📞 Fall called… and maybe it’s time for you to call your therapist back. 😉

Summer can throw routines off, life gets busy, and therapy sometimes takes a back seat. But fall can be a great time to reconnect with yourself, work through what’s been weighing on you, and get support with the patterns you don’t want to keep carrying into another season.

You don’t have to wait until things get worse to come back to therapy. You can start simply because you’re ready to give yourself that space again. 🍂

If you’ve been thinking about returning to therapy or starting for the first time, I offer a free 15-minute consultation so we can connect, talk about what you’re looking for, and see if working together feels like a good fit.

Ready to make the call? Book your free consultation through the link in my bio. 💚

Virtual therapy available in Florida, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Oregon.

OnlineTherapy TraumaHealing AnxietyTherapy

10/09/2026

🎃 My top 5 horror movies as a trauma therapist…

And honestly, I could probably make a Part 2. 😂

Because trauma therapy isn’t about:
→ forcing forgiveness
→ digging into someone’s trauma before they’re ready
→ telling someone to “just get over it”
→ assuming hypnosis means losing control
→ or deciding that therapy “doesn’t work” before finding an approach that actually fits the person

Good trauma therapy should make room for safety, pacing, collaboration, and the fact that every nervous system is different.

And yes… “Let’s dig into your trauma on session one” is particularly terrifying. 👻

Which one would you add to the list?

Trauma recovery isn’t about becoming a completely different person.It’s about learning to recognize the ways you adapted...
10/06/2026

Trauma recovery isn’t about becoming a completely different person.

It’s about learning to recognize the ways you adapted to survive—and deciding, with compassion, what still belongs in your life now.

You don’t have to remember every detail of your past to heal.

You don’t have to shame yourself for the coping strategies that once protected you.

You don’t have to force yourself into change before your nervous system has enough safety to support it.

Healing can mean becoming curious about your patterns instead of judging them.

It can mean practicing something different even when it feels uncomfortable.

It can mean realizing that understanding why you do something is an important step—but it isn’t always the same as changing it.

It can mean giving yourself permission to outgrow an identity that was built around surviving.

Trauma recovery is possible. 🤍

Save this for the days you need a reminder that healing doesn’t have to happen through shame or force.

10/05/2026

There’s a version of self-awareness that feels productive… but can actually keep us stuck.

You can know exactly where your people-pleasing came from.

You can understand why you overthink.

You can recognize your attachment patterns.

You can connect the dots between what happened to you and how you respond now.

And that awareness matters. A lot.

But there’s a point where continuing to analyze the pattern can become a way of avoiding the much harder part:

Practicing something different.

Saying no when your nervous system is screaming at you to keep everyone happy.

Asking for reassurance instead of pretending you don’t need it.

Staying present when your instinct is to shut down.

Choosing a healthy relationship even when chaos feels more familiar.

Trauma recovery isn’t just about understanding yourself better.

It’s about having enough safety, awareness, and practice to respond differently when the old pattern gets activated. 🤍

And that part usually takes practice—not just insight.

Save this for the next time you catch yourself thinking, “But I already KNOW why I do this.” 🌿

A few things I believe about people. 🤍These are the kinds of things I find myself coming back to again and again in my w...
09/29/2026

A few things I believe about people. 🤍

These are the kinds of things I find myself coming back to again and again in my work with clients.

I believe our behaviors make sense when we understand what someone has lived through. Our brains and nervous systems are incredibly good at learning how to survive—and sometimes those strategies stick around long after the original threat is gone.

I believe you can deeply love someone and still recognize that they hurt you.

I believe understanding someone’s story does not mean you have to keep giving them access to you.

I believe your coping mechanisms deserve compassion and curiosity before judgment. And I also believe we can eventually ask whether those coping mechanisms are still helping you live the life you want.

I believe change doesn’t require hating who you used to be. You can have compassion for the version of you who did the best they could with what they knew.

I believe you don’t have to prove that something was “bad enough” before you’re allowed to ask for support.

And I believe the person who looks the most capable in the room may be the person who has spent years learning not to need anyone.

These beliefs are a big part of what trauma recovery means to me.

Not just understanding why you became the way you are…

but creating enough safety, compassion, and awareness that you can begin choosing what comes next. 🌿

Which one resonates with you most?

09/25/2026

Some experiences are hard to explain unless you’ve lived them.

The kind that can look completely normal from the outside… but shaped the way you learned to relate to yourself, other people, and what you had to do to belong.

If you know, you know. 🤍

Which one hit you the hardest?

Save this if you needed the reminder that the things you learned to normalize can still have an impact.

09/23/2026

You don’t have to repeat what you inherited.

Breaking generational patterns isn’t about becoming a completely different person.

It’s about noticing what you learned to survive, understanding why it made sense at the time, and slowly building new ways of relating to yourself and the people you love.

And honestly, one of the most meaningful parts of my work is helping clients realize:

You can learn something different.
You can feel something different.
You can do something different.

Save this as a reminder that your history can shape you without having to define what comes next.

healingjourney traumatherapy emotionalhealing

Address

Portland, OR

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 8pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

+14053231786

Website

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