Erica Smith, M.Ed., LPC

Trauma, Law Enforcement, Adolescents. Individuals & Couples

Erica works with adolescents, adults, couples, families, and law enforcement professionals, with particular specialties in trauma, first-responder culture, adolescents, childhood sexual abuse, and relationship concerns. Her style is genuine, practical, and refreshingly direct. Erica believes therapy works best when people can stop worrying about saying the “right” thing and start talking honestly about what is actually happening.

Trauma has been at the center of Erica’s clinical work for more than a decade. Before joining Harbor, she spent many years at a children’s advocacy center providing therapy to children and adolescents who had experienced sexual abuse and other significant trauma. Her work also included supporting caregivers, providing child-abuse prevention education, and helping families navigate incredibly difficult circumstances. That experience means Erica is comfortable with complicated stories, difficult emotions, and conversations that may feel too uncomfortable to have anywhere else.

Erica particularly enjoys working with law enforcement officers and other first responders and has found this to be an especially natural fit. She understands that people in these professions may bring skepticism about therapy, dark humor, strong personalities, cumulative exposure to trauma, and years of learning how to remain composed when everyone else is falling apart. Erica does not expect clients to soften who they are in order to benefit from therapy. She meets them where they are and helps address trauma, anxiety, relationships, burnout, family stress, and the challenge of turning off a brain trained to stay alert.

She also connects well with teenagers who appreciate honesty and authenticity. Erica does not expect adolescents to arrive excited about therapy or immediately ready to talk. She gives them room to build trust while remaining straightforward enough to address the things that actually need attention.

Erica also offers a collaborative couples counseling model with Angie Martin, LPC, RPT (conveniently down the hall). When clinically appropriate, their approach combines joint couples sessions with coordinated individual sessions, giving each partner space to understand their own patterns and experiences while keeping the health of the relationship at the center of treatment.

For younger children, Erica provides developmentally appropriate body-safety education for ages 4–7, including conversations about welcome and unwelcome touch, boundaries, trusted adults, and how to speak up when something feels unsafe. Her goal is to help families have these conversations in a calm, age-appropriate way without creating unnecessary fear.

Erica believes therapy should feel like a real conversation with a real person. She is compassionate without avoiding difficult truths and supportive without simply telling clients what they want to hear. Her goal is to help people understand themselves, recognize patterns that are no longer serving them, strengthen important relationships, and leave therapy better equipped to handle life outside the room.