About Shyla
Shyla Smith is a Washington-based licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) with six years of clinical experience. She helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. She creates a calm, open space where clients can speak honestly about their thoughts and feelings without judgment.
Her work often focuses on relationship concerns, grief, addiction, and issues related to identity and discrimination. She also supports people coping with sleep problems, anger, low self-esteem, and career or parenting stress.
Background and approach
ADHD is included among the concerns she lists and may be part of conversations about attention, organization, and daily functioning. In sessions she aims to listen closely and respond with practical ideas that clients can try between meetings. Conversations tend to be direct and grounded, with attention to real-life routines and small steps that build change.
She emphasizes collaboration so goals grow from what matters most to the client. Shyla has experience working with multicultural concerns, caregiving stress, chronic illness, and mood disorders. Her background includes helping people manage compulsions, post-traumatic stress, and substance-related problems.
She brings steady, respectful guidance while helping people sort priorities and make manageable plans. People who choose her can expect clear explanations of options and gentle accountability. She supports clients through coaching-style planning when needed, and balances that with space to process emotions.
Sessions are offered in English and are open to international clients.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Shyla uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on clear goals and practical changes. One common approach emphasizes skill-building for managing anxiety and stress, teaching simple strategies for breathing, planning, and breaking tasks into smaller steps to reduce overwhelm. Another approach centers on processing traumatic experiences and their aftereffects by creating safety, naming reactions, and developing coping tools to reduce distress in daily life.Choosing the best approach is a collaborative process. She will talk with each client about their goals, preferences, and daily routines, then tailor sessions to fit those needs. Together they decide whether to emphasize coping skills, emotional processing, coaching-style planning, or a mix of methods over time.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video lets people work face-to-face from different places. Phone sessions can be easier when a quick check-in or lower bandwidth is needed. Live chat and text messaging support shorter check-ins, written reflections, and ongoing prompts between meetings. These options help people fit therapy into busy lives and keep momentum between sessions.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Shyla commonly address?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What credentials and location are listed?
In which languages are sessions offered and can international clients connect?
Which session formats does she use?
How does pricing work for sessions?
What are the first steps to begin working together?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Washington
- Languages
- English
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