Dr. Michael Smith, LMHC

Integrating internal work and meaning through online therapy

Internal Family Systems (IFS) invites clients to get curious about the different parts inside themselves - protective, wounded, and managerial - and to create compassionate inner dialogue that reduces internal conflict and emotional reactivity. This approach can be useful for trauma recovery, grief work, and shifting longstanding patterns of shame or self-criticism.

Existential Therapy focuses on questions of meaning, choice, and responsibility, helping people explore values, life purpose, and the experience of suffering in ways that can open new possibilities for living. It often supports clients coping with illness, end-of-life concerns, or major life transitions by clarifying what matters most.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic work, and the therapist will collaborate with each person to determine whether IFS, existential exploration, or a combined path best fits their needs, goals, and preferences. This is a joint process that evolves as the relationship and understanding deepen.

Offering video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, online therapy provides flexibility for scheduling and continuity of care when in-person meetings are difficult. These options make it easier to maintain regular sessions, access different modes of communication, and continue progress from wherever the client is located within the therapist's service area.