About Rodney
Rodney "Rod" Smith is a licensed professional counselor who helps people facing addictions, relationship strain, trauma, depression, and major life changes. He speaks plainly and aims to make sessions feel direct and practical. Rod uses a straightforward style that many find easier to follow when emotions run high or routines fall apart.
Rod has 15 years of counseling experience and holds LPC credentials in Missouri and Idaho. He has worked in prisons conducting individual and group therapy and has a long background in addiction and co-occurring disorder work.
Background and approach
That combination of settings shaped his focus on realistic steps people can act on between sessions. In the room he draws on client-centered work to listen and follow what matters most to each person. He also uses cognitive behavioral techniques to identify unhelpful thinking and DBT skills to teach emotional regulation and coping.
Rod will discuss how different tools might fit the concerns you bring. He is comfortable addressing a wide range of struggles, including process addictions like gambling or pornography, sex addiction, post-traumatic stress, social anxiety, and problems around trust, infidelity, or separation. Rod also supports people dealing with guilt, shame, isolation, and questions about life purpose.
Sessions are offered in English and can be scheduled as video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. He describes his counseling as honest and practical, focused on small changes that add up over time.
How his approaches translate to online therapy
Client-centered therapy puts the person's concerns first and focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to them. Online sessions let Rod follow those priorities while keeping the conversation focused on your goals and choices.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, helps people spot patterns of thinking that fuel anxiety, depression, or addictive behavior and then practice different responses. That work adapts well to video and phone sessions where homework and brief skill practice are reviewed together.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, teaches concrete skills for handling intense emotions, improving relationships, and reducing impulsive behavior. Skill coaching, emotion regulation practice, and short check-ins can be handled through live chat or text-based messaging as well as calls.
Finding the right mix of approaches is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk through your goals, try methods that seem to fit, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients and the therapist decide together which tools to use and how to apply them in day-to-day life.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and guided skill work. Phone sessions can fit into a shorter break or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging make quick check-ins, homework prompts, or step-by-step coaching easier between longer sessions, helping therapy fit real schedules and needs.
Questions people ask
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Can sessions be held in languages other than English?
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Paranoia
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Sex addiction
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- Missouri, Idaho
- Languages
- English