Brett Smith, LMFT

Brett Smith is an LMFT - a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 22 years of clinical experience who blends lived experience and professional training to address trauma and complex behavioral health concerns. He entered the counseling field after confronting his own post-traumatic stress disorder, and his perspective as a combat veteran and former law enforcement officer informs both his clinical insight and his empathy for people coping with trauma.

Brett has focused much of his career on personality disorders and trauma-related symptoms, exploring how past events shape present-day behavior and relationships. His background includes conducting emergency psychiatric assessments in hospital emergency departments, which deepened his diagnostic skills and his ability to manage crises and complicated clinical presentations.

His therapeutic style is direct and goal-oriented. Brett primarily uses dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) while remaining flexible to shift approaches as needed. He also integrates cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Jungian therapy, mindfulness-based strategies, and hypnotherapy. He has completed post-graduate work in hypnotherapy and is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist who applies Ericksonian and transformational techniques when appropriate.

Brett works with a wide range of concerns including trauma and abuse, personality and mood disorders, relationship and family issues, anxiety and depression, addictions, grief, self-esteem and body image, and many intimacy and identity-related matters. He brings particular experience with first responder and veteran issues, codependency, dissociation, and complicated family-of-origin dynamics.

Outside of his professional life, Brett and his wife enjoy sailing, with plans to live aboard and travel, and they spend time backpacking, kayaking, and training dogs. He also shares educational videos through his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@bashleys, which offers additional perspectives on topics he addresses in therapy.