Delores Smith, LCSW

Delores Smith is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 47 years of experience. She uses practical, evidence-based methods to help people facing anxiety, depression, grief, and stress. Her approach is down-to-earth and focused on real-life changes people can use day to day.

She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people spot unhelpful thoughts and shift behavior. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and client-centered techniques to clarify values and build workable routines. Mindfulness and Dialectical Behavior Therapy tools are woven in when people need emotion regulation or present-moment skills.

Delores often helps with relationship and intimacy challenges, communication problems, and the fallout from divorce or infidelity. She supports people dealing with addiction, career stress, compassion fatigue, and the long-term effects of loss. She also addresses issues like abandonment, guilt, shame, and control struggles.

Sessions focus on concrete skills, problem solving, and clearer decision-making. Delores encourages clients to notice how choices affect goals and to practice different ways of responding. She emphasizes collaboration and respects each person’s pace and limits.

Based in Virginia, she blends practical coaching with therapeutic insight to help people make steady progress. People who want straightforward guidance and workable strategies often find this style helpful.

How evidence-informed approaches translate to online care

Delores commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify thought patterns that lead to stress or depression and then practice different, more helpful behaviors. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify what matters to them and take small committed steps toward those values. These approaches work well for worries, mood changes, relationship strain, and coping with life changes.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels useful in early sessions. Together they will try strategies, note what helps, and adjust the plan based on progress and comfort level.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for full sessions with visual cues, while phone calls can be simpler when bandwidth or hands-free time is needed. Live chat and text messaging can support brief check-ins, homework review, and reminders between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, or busy schedules and let people pick what matches their day-to-day needs.