About Lura
Lura Smedstad is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Minnesota with 20 years of experience helping people cope with stress and anxiety. She works in a direct, compassionate style and aims to help clients find practical ways to manage worry, grief, depression, and relationship strain. She brings a mix of approaches to sessions, including cognitive behavioral strategies, mindfulness techniques, and somatic awareness.
Sessions are conversational and goal-focused. Lura helps people build small, sustainable habits that lower daily stress and improve mood.
Background and approach
Her background includes a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling with a concentration in art therapy and many years in ministry work supporting spiritual growth. That history shaped a practice that honors personal values while focusing on measurable change. Lura has worked in clinical settings and led a multi-year school for personal growth.
She has experience supporting those dealing with trauma, addictions, caregiving stress, postpartum depression, and compassion fatigue. In session she helps clients set realistic life goals and repair patterns from their family of origin. Clients can expect practical tools, gentle guidance, and attention to body-based signs of stress.
Lura aims to help people reconnect with their inner sense of wisdom while learning skills to handle life’s challenges.
How Lura’s approaches translate to online therapy
CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and building practical skills to change them. Online CBT sessions use conversation, worksheets, and practice assignments to reduce anxiety and manage mood. EFT, or emotionally focused work, pays attention to connection and emotions to help people understand attachment patterns and improve relationship responses. Online EFT-style work uses focused dialogue and exercises to shift how people respond to strong feelings.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Lura will discuss goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, then adapt methods as therapy progresses. Together she and the client check what works and try different tools until they find a good fit.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation and screen sharing for worksheets. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or for a shorter check-in. Live chat and text messaging make it easier to share quick updates, practice skills between sessions, or fit therapy into a busy day. These options aim to make consistent care more flexible and easier to fit into everyday life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English
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