Emma Smith, MA, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH, C-DBT, CAIMHP, CGDC

Welcome. I am a licensed professional counselor, clinical leader, doctoral student, researcher, and advocate based in Missouri. I currently serve as the Director of Substance Use Recovery Outpatient Therapy Services, providing clinical and operational leadership across community-based treatment programs. My work focuses on strengthening clinical practice, supporting counselor development, improving systems of care, and promoting ethical, accessible, and affirming services for individuals whose needs and identities have often been underserved.

My clinical identity is grounded in an integrated humanistic orientation informed by psychodynamic, narrative, family systems, feminist, multicultural, and trauma-focused perspectives. My professional focus includes trauma, serious mental illness, identity and sexuality, and the enduring effects of childhood experiences. Across these areas, I prioritize the therapeutic relationship, client autonomy, cultural humility, and the thoughtful integration of evidence-informed practices according to each client’s needs and lived experience.

I am completing a Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision at The Chicago School. My teaching philosophy is humanistic and integrative, emphasizing relational safety, learner development, active participation, reflection, and the practical application of knowledge. My developing approach to clinical supervision is grounded in an integrative feminist framework that considers counselor development alongside identity, culture, power, privilege, professional responsibility, and the supervisory relationship. These approaches reflect my belief that meaningful professional growth occurs through a balance of support, challenge, collaboration, feedback, and self-reflection.

My dissertation research explored novice counselors’ perceived comfort and competence when working with kink-oriented clients, with particular attention to education, supervision, ethics, cultural humility, personal values, and professional identity development. This portfolio presents selected examples of my clinical philosophy, education, credentials, teaching and curriculum experiences, supervision, research and scholarship, professional leadership, advocacy, presentations, and service. Together, these materials reflect my continued development as a counselor and clinical leader and my emerging professional identity within counselor education and supervision.