Jessica Smith, LMSW

Professional Introduction

Jessica Smith, LMSW, is a Licensed Master Social Worker with more than 15 years of experience in the mental health field. She provides a warm, collaborative, and nonjudgmental environment where clients can feel safe exploring their emotions, strengthening their coping skills, and working toward meaningful change.

Throughout her career, Jessica has worked across inpatient care, outpatient programs, substance use treatment, and crisis intervention, giving her extensive experience supporting individuals and families through a wide range of emotional, behavioral, and relational concerns.

As a Black woman and therapist from Connecticut, Jessica is particularly passionate about increasing access to quality mental health care within communities of color. She understands the importance of cultural identity, lived experience, family dynamics, and community when providing effective therapy. Her work closely aligns with Divine Resilience Psychotherapy's commitment to culturally responsive mental health care and helping BIPOC clients feel seen, understood, and supported.

Jessica works with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, parenting concerns, life transitions, self-esteem difficulties, and other life stressors. Her goal is to help clients develop greater self-awareness, resilience, confidence, and emotional well-being.

My Approach to Therapy

Jessica believes that a strong therapeutic relationship begins with trust, respect, collaboration, and creating a space where clients can show up authentically without fear of judgment.

Her approach is holistic, person-centered, culturally responsive, and strengths-based. Rather than focusing solely on symptoms, Jessica works to understand the whole person—including relationships, family experiences, identity, culture, environment, past experiences, current stressors, and personal strengths.

She partners with clients to identify their goals while helping them better understand patterns that may be contributing to emotional distress or relationship difficulties. Therapy may involve developing healthier coping strategies, improving emotional regulation, strengthening communication, challenging unhelpful thinking patterns, processing difficult experiences, and recognizing strengths that clients may have overlooked.

Jessica incorporates evidence-based approaches while tailoring treatment to each client's individual needs. Her professional materials identify CBT, DBT, mindfulness, trauma-focused therapy, attachment-based therapy, solution-focused therapy, strengths-based approaches, and family systems interventions among the approaches she utilizes.  

At the heart of Jessica's work is the belief that clients deserve to feel seen and empowered throughout the therapeutic process. Her goal is not simply to help clients manage difficult moments, but to help them develop greater awareness, resilience, and confidence that extends beyond the therapy room.

Specialties & Areas of Focus

• Anxiety and excessive worry

• Depression and mood concerns

• Trauma and trauma recovery

• Relationship and interpersonal concerns

• Parenting support

• Attachment and relationship patterns

• Self-esteem and confidence

• Life transitions and adjustment

• Emotional regulation

• Stress management

• Coping skills development

• Family conflict and family dynamics

• Personal growth and self-discovery

• Life coaching and goal development

• Crisis intervention

• Culturally responsive therapy

• Mental health support for Black and Brown communities

• Support for individuals navigating complex family, cultural, or life experiences

Therapeutic Modalities

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  Helps clients recognize how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors influence one another while developing healthier thinking patterns and practical coping strategies.

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

  Supports emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, and healthier responses to difficult emotions or situations.

• Trauma-Focused Therapy

  Provides a supportive framework for understanding and processing the impact of traumatic or overwhelming experiences while strengthening safety, coping, and resilience.

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

  A trauma-focused therapeutic approach designed to help clients process distressing experiences and reduce the emotional intensity associated with traumatic memories.

• Attachment-Based Therapy

  Explores how early relationships and attachment experiences may influence emotional needs, relationship patterns, trust, communication, and connection in adulthood.

• Solution-Focused Therapy

  Helps clients identify strengths, resources, and practical solutions while focusing on achievable goals and meaningful progress.

• Person-Centered Therapy

  Creates a supportive therapeutic relationship grounded in empathy, authenticity, respect, and the belief that clients have the capacity for growth.

• Strengths-Based Therapy

  Helps clients recognize personal strengths, resilience, resources, and abilities that can support healing and positive change.

• Mindfulness-Based Interventions

  Encourages greater awareness of thoughts, emotions, and present-moment experiences while supporting stress reduction and emotional regulation.

• Family Systems Therapy

  Examines how family relationships, roles, communication patterns, and intergenerational experiences may influence current concerns and relationships.

Education & Credentials

• Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) — State of Connecticut

• Master of Social Work (MSW) — Southern Connecticut State University

• Bachelor's Degree in Psychology — University of Bridgeport

Throughout my career, I’ve worked across diverse settings—including inpatient, outpatient, substance use treatment, and crisis intervention—providing individual, group, and family therapy, as well as professional development for clinicians. 

Client Focus

• Children

• Adolescents and teens

• Adults

• Individuals

• Couples

• Families

• Parents and caregivers

• Black and Brown individuals and families

• BIPOC communities

• Clients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds

• Individuals navigating trauma or difficult life experiences

• Clients experiencing anxiety or depression

• Individuals navigating relationship or attachment concerns

• Parents seeking additional support

• Clients navigating significant life transitions

• Individuals seeking personal growth, confidence, and greater emotional wellness