About Susan
Susan Smoot is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Virginia with 25 years of work in mental health. She helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, addictions, trauma and abuse, grief, and major life changes. Her approach respects each person’s experience and looks for practical ways forward.
Susan believes people know their story best and brings a steady, down-to-earth presence to sessions. She focuses on building on strengths and finding small, concrete steps for change.
Background and approach
Sessions are conversational and goal-oriented, with time spent listening, reflecting, and planning next steps. She commonly supports people facing panic attacks, social anxiety, communication problems, control issues, guilt and shame, and questions about life purpose. When grief or loss is present, she helps people name feelings and find ways to live with them.
Susan also works with issues around forgiveness and self-love in simple, realistic ways. Her style is warm and straightforward. She offers tools people can try between sessions and checks in about what helps or doesn’t.
Progress is measured by changes in day-to-day functioning and relief from pressing symptoms. To begin, a person completes a short matching questionnaire and then schedules sessions. Susan’s practice offers several online formats to fit different needs and routines.
How evidence-based techniques translate to online care
Evidence-based therapeutic techniques include approaches that teach skills and change patterns. One common method focuses on identifying anxious thoughts and testing them with real-life experiments. This helps reduce panic attacks and social anxiety by changing how people respond to fear.Another helpful approach teaches practical coping skills for stress and addictive urges. It breaks larger problems into small, doable steps and teaches breathing, grounding, and planning techniques people can use when feeling overwhelmed.
Finding the right method is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to choose approaches that match their goals, needs, and preferences. They will try techniques, check what helps, and adjust the plan together over time.
Online therapy offers flexibility in how people meet. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation for in-depth work. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is low or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging support shorter check-ins and ongoing coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and different routines.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Virginia
- Languages
- English
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