About Brett
Brett Smith is a licensed marriage and family therapist who helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and ADHD. He brings 22 years of clinical experience and a straightforward style to sessions. His background includes work in emergency psychiatric settings and roles that exposed him to trauma and crisis care.
Brett draws on practical methods that focus on changing unhelpful thoughts and building day-to-day coping skills. He often uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance.
Background and approach
He also integrates cognitive-behavioral tools to identify patterns that keep problems going. He has personal experience with trauma and a history in public safety work, which informs his approach to treating trauma symptoms and related personality concerns. That history helped him learn how long trauma effects can persist and how they shape behavior over time.
Brett also uses hypnotherapy and elements of Jungian and mindfulness work when those fit a person’s goals. He adapts his methods when a case needs a different approach and favors clear, direct guidance in sessions. Outside clinical work he enjoys sailing, backpacking, kayaking, and training dogs.
He and his wife plan to live aboard a sailboat in the future. He posts related videos on his public YouTube channel for people who want to learn more on their own.
How therapy approaches work online
Many clients benefit from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because it focuses on practical steps to change thoughts and behaviors. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, and patterns that interfere with daily functioning.Dialectical Behavior Therapy teaches specific skills for handling intense emotions and high-stress moments. DBT methods can help with anger, self-soothing, and improving how you cope when things feel overwhelming.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, try techniques, and adjust methods together based on what helps. That makes it easier to blend CBT, DBT, or other tools when needed.
Online therapy offers several convenient ways to connect. Video calls work well for in-depth sessions and visual cues. Phone sessions can fit shorter check-ins or times with low bandwidth. Live chat and text-based messaging let people share updates between sessions or use brief coaching-style support. These options make scheduling easier and let clients pick formats that fit their routines and needs.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Eating disorders
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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