Modern life can keep us so busy that we forget (or avoid) the essential need to stop and check in with ourselves in order to take care of our own emotional lives.
At Jill Smith and Associates Counseling, we believe that consulting a psychotherapist should be as accessible and as normal as developing your career, exploring a hobby or going to the gym weekly to get healthy. Just as we take care of our bodies and physical health, a vital element of self-care is devoting focused time and energy to exploring and understanding our thoughts and feelings.
Whatever is going on in your life – whether you are entering a period of transition, want to improve your relationships or are stuck in a rut– we’ll engage you in an enlightening one-to-one conversation marked by curiosity, respect, and understanding. You may want help for dealing with a serious problem, or perhaps you want to develop and self-improve.
Psychotherapy can help when life feels unbearably difficult, and it can also make a decent life even better. You will work collaboratively to become more aware of patterns in your life and enact changes to lessen your suffering and increase your enjoyment of life.
We work with clients in Columbia and Lexington to address:
- Depression, sadness, malaise
- Anxiety and worry
- Trauma—recent trauma or the effects of older trauma that hasn’t been processed
- Relationship and dating stress and confusion
- Parenting realities, stressors, worries
- Addiction and recovery
- Postpartum depression and anxiety—in both men and women
- Infertility sorrow and stress
- Grief and loss—parents, siblings, friends, pets
- Job stress and unfulfillment
- Social and coworker strife—needing new skills to get along better with others
- Life changes
- Existential questions that yearn to be processed