Hi, I’m Loren Smith. Welcome to my home on the web.

 

As a long time meditator, I bring deep presence and attunement with myself and my clients during our sessions.

It involves all that I am … meeting all that you are. I rely on a strong therapeutic alliance to create a healing environment for you to safely explore and connect to your greater sense of being alive.

As a Marriage and Family therapist, I am deeply interested in relationships with one’s self and with others.

My goal is to help you explore what patterns in your life prevent you from being fully present to yourself and others at this moment and in your life.

 

Because what hurts us primarily affects non verbal areas on the brain, talk therapy alone does not usually make us feel better.

In order to truly heal, we need to access and integrate all levels of the human experience.

 

I am an Integrative Psychotherapist.

 

My work honors multiple aspects of the human experience:

 

Your body, which holds every story of your life, and aches to share its untold wisdom

 

Your relationships, which support and evolve you … and reveal your resistance, conflicts, and self-limiting patterns

 

Your mind, whose clear awareness awards you a choice, moment to moment, between stagnation and evolution.

 

I rely upon all of these aspects of your Self to guide you into a life of more meaning, awareness, intimacy, delight and secure connections with others.

 

When we honor the fundamental unity of mind, body, and relationships, accessing  emotions, thoughts, felt sense and physiology, alchemy happens … and transformation becomes surprisingly easeful and simple. Old dysfunctional patterns are actually repatterned in your nervous system.

 

Ultimately, my work guides people into greater emotional maturity and spiritual growth.

 

I keep one foot grounded in ancient wisdom.

 

But my other foot lives in the modern, scientific world: I follow the latest developments in psychodynamics, interpersonal psychobiology, relationships and sexuality, somatic therapy, trauma recovery, attachment theory, Integral philosophy, systemic healing, and on and on.

 

I have training in mindfulness, interpersonal neurobiology, Lawrence Heller’s Neuro Affective Relational Model (NARM) and Stan Tatkin’s Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT), all of which integrate a nervous systems based and relational orientation.

 

I am an insatiable and passionate student of the human condition, and continue to deepen my understanding and expand my professional toolkit through personal studies and professional development.

 

My credentials and affiliations include:

• Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, CT and NY
• Member, AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy), and New York Metro chapter
• NARM Certified (2-year program in Lawrence Heller’s Neuro Affective Relational Model)
• PACT Level 1 Certified (1-year program in Stan Tatkin’s Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy)

• Licensed Attorney in New York and Connecticut, and certified mediator

 

I know that as each individual changes and opens their heart, the rewards ripple out to everyone they meet … and eventually the entire world.

 

I love this this work. Delighted by the uniqueness of each person, couple and family I meet. And thrilled to facilitate more joy and healing in the world.

 

How I Got Here

 

I practiced as a litigation attorney for years. But I found myself more interested in people’s motivations and internal thought process than by the objective facts.  I began learning about motivation, meditation and mindfulness and started attending workshops about depth psychology (such as, Jung, Maslow and Grof),  psychodynamics and spirituality (Kabbalah, Buddhism, Waking Down, Integral).

 

I eventually left the law for graduate school in family therapy. For my internship, I worked at Norwalk Youth Services with teens and families who were struggling, often referred by schools systems or the court. I then worked at Jewish Family Services with individuals and families experiencing challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed working with teens, young adults, couples and families to support them in their challenges.

 

I was also combining my legal experience and psychological interest and practicing mediation, or conflict resolution, to facilitate solutions to workplace disputes and “conscious divorces.”

 

But, I soon recognized how much cannot be healed through words, alone. I saw that no matter how much insight we have into our narratives, our stories are lodged in our body, in our nervous system and how we relate to ourselves and others. As I continued my studies with various mentors, teachers and therapists in interpersonal psychology, somatic therapy, psychobiological couples work, NARM, and PACT, I realized how much I was healing myself and slowly began to heal from my own developmental trauma. The more I healed, the better I hold my clients as they progress in their journey towards their own wholeness, evolution and growth. The more I’ve integrated my shadow material, the less projection there is onto my clients and the more fully present I am for my clients’ process.

 

And so, I spend a lot of time on my own psychological and spiritual growth, am an avid student of adult human development and the wisdom of/in our bodies. I love books, poetry, music and film.  I delight in hiking, swimming and communing with the great outdoors.  And deeply cherish the connections and relationships that I am blessed with.

 

I integrate the psychological, relational, and body-based approaches into a fluid, dynamic process for working with individuals, couples,  parents and families.

 

I would be honored to support you.

 

I work with clients via telephone and Skype — or in my office on the upper west side of Manhattan. 110 West 96th Street, Ste 1D.

 

Let’s connect. Contact me for a free, 15 minute phone consultation.

 

Do you have any questions not answered here?

Drop me a line anytime.

 

To your growth,
Loren

As we are unbound from the past, a future abundant with new possibilities unfolds.  Our ability to be in the present expands, revealing the timeless essence of the now.   Peter Levine.