Shira Smith , LCSW

Shira Smith is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in New York. She focuses on supporting individuals facing stress, anxiety, relationship challenges, trauma and abuse, grief, and depression. Her work often centers on women's issues and concerns common to young adults. She aims to make sessions straightforward and practical. Conversations focus on what is happening now and what small steps feel doable. She helps people name their feelings, set achievable goals, and try different ways of coping. Shira emphasizes culturally aware care and attends to how prejudice and discrimination affect daily life. She also supports people who feel isolated or who are processing infidelity, loss, or difficult transitions such as pregnancy and childbirth. Her approach draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques to address post-traumatic stress, social anxiety, and struggles with self-love. Sessions include skills to manage overwhelming emotions and ways to repair or rethink relationship patterns. Shira brings six years of clinical experience to her work as an LCSW, helping people explore life purpose and build resilience. She presents therapy as a collaborative process and adjusts the work to fit each person's goals and pace.

Evidence-based approaches and online care

Shira uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on practical change and emotional processing. One common approach she draws on helps people learn concrete coping skills for anxiety and stress, such as breathing, grounding, and breaking problems into smaller steps. This approach is useful when feelings feel overwhelming and daily functioning needs steadier routines.

She also uses trauma-informed methods that help people safely process painful memories and reduce their hold on daily life. These methods include gentle pacing, making sense of difficult experiences, and developing tools to manage triggers and flashbacks. That work often supports recovery from post-traumatic stress, abuse, or other painful events.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and past experiences, and together they will decide which techniques to try and when to adjust the plan.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video and phone sessions allow deeper conversation and real-time interaction, while live chat and text are useful for brief check-ins, ongoing support between sessions, or when someone prefers not to be on camera. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to continue work even when schedules change.