About Arianna

Hey! It’s Arianna Smith here.

I’m an EMDR clinician & Licensed Professional Counselor.

Not to mention book nerd, dog mom, and Earl Grey aficionado.

My pronouns are she/her.

What I know for sure

First off, there is NOTHING wrong with you, okay?

Nor are you broken, “too much”, “too sensitive” – or any other combination of demeaning things someone may have said to you (or you have said to yourself).

100% of you is invited to show up in the room.

I’ll make you tea*, invite you to take off your shoes, and cozy up on the couch under a blanket if you want. (*Virtually, if you’d like.)

I welcome humor + laughter as a way to bring levity and insight to difficult feelings and situations. (Never at your expense.)

Being raised in rural Alaska, I’m nowhere near prim and proper — and you don’t have to be either.

If you want a therapist who can roll with your sarcasm and f-bombs, I’m your gal.

I work from a weight-neutral approach. Your worth and value have absolutely no relation to your size, weight, or body type.

I Work Best With…

My focus is on supporting successful, sensitive people to go from pleasing everyone to taking care of themselves first.

I’d love to work with you if…

You’re a Highly Sensitive Person, empath, or deep-feeler. Bring on the feels!
You’re a member of the LGBTQ community and have experienced abuse, assault, or domestic violence.
You’re healing from a past romantic relationship that was dysfunctional, toxic, or abusive.

You may feel like you don’t perfectly fit into any of these areas, and that’s okay. Most of my clients don’t fit into a ‘box’. If you feel drawn to work with me, let’s talk.

How Therapy Works

One of the main roadmaps I use to support you is called Internal Family Systems (IFS). I believe people are made up of parts, with every part important to know and welcome into the room. (Yes, even the frustrating, shameful, or destructive ones have a place in my office.)

I trust that everything you (or parts of you) do has a purpose and a good intention, even if the impact is harmful. With compassionate digging, I’ve found even the most difficult feelings or thoughts made sense within the context of your life or history.

If you’ve seen the Pixar movie “Inside Out”, you’ve already got a sneak peek of Internal Family Systems. If you’re curious, check out this clip and this clip from the movie.

Additionally, I weave in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to our work together. EMDR is a memory-based approach that is helpful for getting icky, traumatic, or nagging thoughts or feelings to become less overwhelming and distressing. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (either tapping, tones, or eye movements) to help unpleasant memories become unstuck. (Yup, we can do this online!)

I lean heavily on Attachment Theory. Attachment theory is great for understanding why you might pick the same (terrible) partner over and over, why you panic when your partner doesn’t text you back immediately, or why you push people away despite feeling lonely. It’s also why you feel like sabotaging your relationship — even when you’re in a healthy one.