Karen L Smith MSS, LCSW

About

Karen L. Smith, MSS, LCSW, believes in engaging life fully and sees therapy as a uniquely potent tool for removing barriers and freeing constraints to embrace the best of life.

Smith received her Master's degree from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, advanced clinical education from the International Institute of Object Relations Theory, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy education through Fluence SoundMind.

Smith is the founder and director of Full Living: A Psychotherapy Practice, which offers clinical services with seasoned, culturally competent clinicians. She additionally is the co-director of Ketamine Kollaborations and the author of Prepare Yourself, Your Clients and Your Practice for Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy: A Step by Step Guide

Books by Karen L Smith MSS, LCSW

Recent Posts

Silliness Is a Gateway Drug

While it's essential to be skilled at holding ourselves together to function, it isn’t a particularly complementary set of skills for finding a fun, playful, joyous life.

Ketamine Is the Shortcut We All Deserve

Ketamine doesn’t solve anything. But it can offer a moment of revelation, and epiphany, an embodied somatic experience of goodness used to change one's life.

Anthony Bourdain, and Talking to My Young Kid About Suicide

We want to protect our children. Sometimes we do this by sheltering them from dark truths and realities. But this leaves them defenseless when they have to face darkness.

Power in Sex Isn't a Problem, in Fantasy or With Consent

Disturbing as the recent accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct are, the sexual fantasies that fueled them are common. The problem isn't the fantasies; its the enactment.

Treating Nazis: Analytic Considerations on Hate

Hate is a normal part of the human condition. What separates us from those in hate groups is we had a childhood that helped us learn how to manage our feelings.

An Impactful Change You Can Successfully Make

You have a voice inside your head narrating your life and actions. Is it kind and supportive? Unless you have made a conscious effort, it is likely mean and hateful.

It's Not the Glass That's Half Full/Empty; It's the Breast

We judge others as dispositioned towards negativity or positivity, scarcity or abundance, as a chosen disposition. In truth, that disposition gets set in infancy.

Psychotherapist as a Dance Archeologist

An explanation through metaphor of why we repeat patterns from our families of origin and how therapy helps us change that.

Attending to the Unconscious in a Psychotherapy Session

Lots of folks can offer counsel to our clients. Our job is to help them access clues from their unconscious about the turmoils of their soul.

Thinking About Divorce or Suicide? Stop it! For 6 Months

Neither divorce nor suicidality is the easy way out, but first we must consider every vehicle, every effort, every courageous act to save what is most precious.