About Lura
Lura Smedstad is a licensed professional counselor who focuses on helping adults manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and life transitions. She works with people who are dealing with trauma, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting strain, addiction-related issues, and career stress. Lura brings 20 years of counseling experience to sessions and uses practical tools to help clients set and reach realistic goals.
Her approach blends clear thinking with experiential methods. She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns.
Background and approach
She also uses emotionally focused ideas to help people name and respond to feelings, plus mindfulness and somatic practices to calm the body and reduce overwhelm. Clients can expect straightforward, compassionate conversation. Lura aims to help people connect with their own inner sense of guidance while building everyday routines that support healing.
Sessions include concrete strategies, reflective work, and creative tools when appropriate. Her background includes a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling with an art therapy concentration and long experience leading personal growth programs. Lura previously worked in clinic and ministry settings and has delivered counseling in both in-person and remote formats.
She provides counseling from Minnesota and conducts sessions by video call, phone, live chat, or text messaging. Lura holds an LPC credential in Minnesota and offers care in English.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and shifting behaviors that keep problems going. Online sessions can use worksheets, structured exercises, and practical homework to support change in everyday life.Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people notice and name emotions and then respond to those feelings in healthier ways. In remote sessions this can mean using guided conversation and reflective exercises to strengthen emotional awareness and improve relationship patterns.
Finding the right approach happens together. The therapist will work collaboratively with each person to pick the methods that match their goals, values, and what feels most useful. Plans are adjusted over time based on what’s helping and what needs to change.
Online therapy offers flexibility for different schedules and needs. Video calls let therapists and clients see nonverbal cues, phone sessions work well when lower bandwidth is needed, live chat can be used for brief check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or other daily demands while using the clinician’s chosen approaches.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English