About Me
Hello!
I’m Rebecca. My patients call me Rebecca, or Dr. Smith, or sometimes Doc. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I’m a millennial woman but if you take one look at my hobbies you’d probably think I was 87 years old (or maybe we’ve all been baking bread since 2020?). I tell everyone that building a meditation practice can change your life (and it can!!), but sometimes I fall off that particular wagon. My houseplants are threatening to take over every room and that sort of delights me. I recently discovered that just because something is more challenging doesn’t mean it’s more worthy, and woof, that session with my own therapist was one that drastically shifted my mindset.
With friends I quip that I have a “doctorate in feelings,” and although it usually comes out as a joke that’s actually totally true. After getting my PhD in Clinical Psychology from Gallaudet University in 2015 I went straight into private practice, and I’ve been a full-time psychotherapist ever since. This means I spent nearly all of my 20s in grad school learning about what makes people tick, and y’all, it’s complicated. We are complicated! YOU are complicated. Which is why, even though you’re bright and successful and honestly so damn impressive, you might be having trouble dealing with things like anxiety, perfectionism, self-doubt, imposter syndrome — even struggling to simply feel satisfied — on your own.
That’s where I come in. I work with intelligent, motivated, ambitious women who feel stuck and know they are ready to get out of their own way. They don’t feel good. The reasons are varied — they’re worried, stressed, and burnt out; they’re critical of themselves; they’re dealing with the very real ups and downs of this particular season of life. Sometimes they, too, are learning that they don’t have to do the hardest thing to be proud of themselves, or to be satisfied, or to be happy.
Whatever the particular reason, one symptom is usually present — they’re overwhelmed by their thoughts. Their thoughts are anxious and critical and so loud. Their brains are running at 100mph to work through their problems, but all of that thinking isn’t making them feel any better. Honestly, it's usually making them feel worse.
In therapy with me, my patients work towards being in charge of their thoughts, rather than feeling ruled by them. If you want to get into the nuts and bolts, I use a combination of different modalities including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Positive Psychology to help patients uncover ways in which their thoughts are not helping them and to deal with unwanted / unworkable thoughts. We address the issues that brought them to therapy — anxiety, self-doubt, self-criticism — to help kick those painful symptoms and stuck mindsets to the curb, pulling patients up from feeling like they’re at 0 and getting them to at least a 5. But the real magic comes into play when we go from 5 to 10. That’s when we work to enhance helpful / workable thoughts and utilize evidence-based tactics that get patients unstuck and in charge of their lives.
And that’s the true goal my patients and I share for our work together — to thrive. Sure, I enjoy helping people feel better, to get back to normal and feel more like themselves. But the real magic happens after we’ve mastered this skill because I freaking love helping my patients flourish. It’s great to go from feeling like you’re at your lowest and inching up to being ok, but honestly, I’m at my best as a therapist when I’m helping women go from fine to thriving. Nothing feels better than ending a session feeling like we’re not aiming for “symptom free,” we’re aiming for — and achieving! — building this absolutely kick-ass future self that my patients are totally on their way to becoming.
If this sounds like something that would help you, I’d love to get started. Request a consultation today.
