About Frederick
Dr. Frederick Smoot is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) practicing in California. He brings five years of clinical experience helping people navigate stress, anxiety, relationship strain, and life transitions.
He aims for a warm, curious presence in sessions and encourages clients to take small, practical steps toward change. His style is straightforward and respectful. He listens first, then collaborates on goals that matter to each person.
Sessions focus on what is useful day to day, whether that means reducing anxious thoughts, restoring intimacy, or managing grief.
Background and approach
Dr. Smoot uses techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive behavioral methods, and client-centered approaches to shape the work. Mindfulness practices and elements of the Gottman Method are part of his toolbox when they fit a person's goals.
He tailors strategies to the situation rather than using a one-size-fits-all plan. He also addresses issues that often accompany anxiety, such as substance use, compassion fatigue, low self-esteem, and challenges around parenting or caregiving. He helps people weigh options, set boundaries, and rebuild routines that support emotional balance.
Sessions are practical and focused on real-life changes. Dr. Smoot works with each person to build skills they can use between meetings.
He invites curiosity and steady effort as ways to move toward more manageable days.
Approaches and how online therapy can help
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on noticing thoughts without getting stuck in them and taking values-guided action. It can help people who feel overwhelmed by anxious thoughts or stuck by avoidance. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical skills to shift unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, stress, and mood concerns. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a respectful, nonjudgmental relationship where the therapist follows the client's pace and priorities to build insight and self-direction.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Dr. Smoot uses these methods collaboratively, adapting techniques to the client's goals and preferences. Together they shape a plan that fits each person's needs, testing and adjusting as progress is made.
Online therapy offers flexibility for people with busy schedules or limited mobility. Video calls are useful for a near face-to-face conversation, phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a work break, and live chat or text messaging allow shorter check-ins and ongoing support between sessions. These options make it easier to keep momentum and practice skills in real time.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual dysfunction
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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