Emily Smith

LCAT, ATR-BC

Self-Esteem Building

Coping Skills

Trauma & PSTD

Supervised By: Dina Palma, LCAT #000452

Client Focus: Children, Adolescents, Young Adults

Specialties: Self-esteem building, coping skills, trauma and PTSD, emotion regulation, school issues, stress tolerance, behavioral issues, impulse control, mood disorders

Treatment Methods: Art Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Trauma-Informed Care, Person-Centered Therapy

Emily Smith is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Board-Certified Art Therapist who specializes primarily with child and adolescent populations, as well as young adults. She takes an integrative approach and incorporates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and trauma-informed approaches within her art therapy practice. Emily integrates the creative process as a tool for reflection, emotional expression, and hands-on regulation. She takes a person-centered approach, meeting each client where they are, and drawing upon their unique strengths, interests, and creative voice to guide the work. Whether through painting, drawing, or other expressive forms, art becomes a safe way to explore feelings, build self-esteem, and nurture autonomy.

Her therapeutic style is characterized by meeting each client where they're at and balancing challenging them while providing security and honoring their current place in their healing journey. Emily is not afraid of humor and having fun, while also being direct and avoiding "sugar coating" when appropriate. She believes that every single client is unique and feels it is her job to help discover and build upon their strengths with enthusiasm, while also creating a non-threatening mirror to their weaknesses and fears to help each client accept all parts of themselves and feel wholeness on a deeper level. Her goal is to create a warm, trusting environment where one can feel supported in discovering their own resilience and sense of self through creativity and connection.

With a dual major in psychology and fine arts followed by a Master's degree in creative arts therapy at Hofstra University, Emily worked at South Oaks inpatient psychiatric hospital for about four years, which provided experience with group work, individual work, and experience with a wide range of populations. She was ultimately drawn to private practice at START, where she has been continuing to grow in her own practices for the last four years. Emily hopes that through their work together, clients come to see therapy as both meaningful and rewarding, sometimes challenging, but also fun and deeply fulfilling when they find what fits.

Outside the therapy room, Emily loves to paint, specifically enjoying the challenge of painting portraits with acrylic or oil paint. She unapologetically admits that she loves reading fantasy books and is a huge Harry Potter nerd. One of her most favorite nights at home includes relaxing on the couch with her two cats while playing video games or watching a movie. Throw in some rainy weather and it's a perfect night!

  • Art as Mirror to the Inner World
    Emily wants clients to experience their art as a mirror to their inner world, helping them learn from and better understand the feelings that live beneath the surface. Like Georgia O'Keeffe said, "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way, things I had no words for." Emily hopes clients will learn how to let go within their process, feel the freedom of letting go of expectations in expressing what their minds and hearts urge them to, and feel this freeness and confidence translate into their daily lives as well.

  • All Emotions Are Welcome
    Emily hopes clients leave with a greater sense of confidence in themselves and a compassionate understanding that all emotions, joy, sadness, fear, and everything in between, are natural, human, and worth exploring. She creates a non-threatening mirror to clients' weaknesses and fears to help each client accept all parts of themselves and feel wholeness on a deeper level.

  • Balance of Challenge and Security
    Emily balances challenging clients while providing security and honoring their current place in their healing journey. She is not afraid of humor and having fun, while also being direct and avoiding "sugar coating" when appropriate. This balanced approach helps clients feel both supported and genuinely seen, creating a therapeutic relationship where growth feels both safe and authentic.

"'I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way, things I had no words for.' – Georgia O'Keeffe. I hope clients will learn how to let go within their process, feel the freedom of letting go of expectations in expressing what their minds and hearts urge them to. My hope is when this is achieved in the creative process, clients will feel this freeness and confidence translate into their daily lives as well."

- Emily Smith, LCAT, ATR-BC