About Joanna
Joanna Smith is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Arizona who helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and life transitions. She brings four years of clinical experience and focuses on practical steps clients can use between sessions. Joanna creates an affirming space for LGBTQ people and others exploring identity and sexuality.
She also supports people dealing with relationship challenges, intimacy concerns, and career-related stress. Conversations are direct and compassionate, with an emphasis on what feels possible right now.
Background and approach
Her work often addresses trauma, abuse, addiction, and co-occurring issues like codependency and shame. She uses mindfulness and emotion-focused strategies to help people notice patterns and respond differently. Sessions include skills practice and real-world problem solving.
Joanna draws on attachment-based ideas to understand how early relationships shape current connections. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help clients clarify values and take small steps toward them. For clients processing traumatic memories, she incorporates Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing techniques as appropriate.
People who prefer a collaborative, down-to-earth style tend to do well with her. Joanna talks with each person about goals and builds a plan that fits their life. Her tone is straightforward, warm, and goal-oriented.
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Joanna often uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which focuses on clarifying personal values and taking small, committed steps toward them while learning to accept difficult thoughts and feelings. That approach can help with anxiety, depression, and challenges like ADHD when practical actions are needed.She also uses Emotionally-Focused Therapy ideas to help people name and shift the emotions that drive relationship and intimacy patterns. This work supports clearer communication and stronger connection to oneself and others.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Joanna will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and how symptoms show up in daily life, then suggest which methods to try. That decision is collaborative and can be adjusted over time based on what is helpful.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls let people use body language and longer conversation, phone sessions can be a good shorter option when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging can provide quick check-ins or ongoing support between appointments. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and different routines.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Career difficulties
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- Arizona
- Languages
- English
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