About – Talk with Christine.

Christine Smith

About me

Psychology Therapy

I found my inspiration to start my practice in 2016...

… when I was working in many different global philanthropy projects living in 6 countries in 3 years.

As I have loved traveling and experiencing new cultures, there have been times where I feel lonely and isolated from everyone around me. As I traveled, I realized many people felt similar, isolated from their home cultural norms, difficulties communicating, and even not feeling understood. Many people work very hard to have the opportunity to travel around the world, but not many individuals think about difficulties they might run into or even if you prepared things happen in life, we all need support with.

While you abroad it can very difficult finding a therapist or coach that speaks English. My hope is to share my experiences and knowledge to help you deal with some of the potential issues that will arise while you are abroad enhancing your experience and feeling more joyful.

My approach

A- agenda setting is where we work together to create a clear agenda of what we are working on in sessions. We will also discuss any feelings you might feel about the change process. Most times there are mixed feelings about the change process. M- methods are all the tools we will use to work with the distressing thoughts you are experiencing.

As I have many years of experience and knowledge in western medicine/ science of the mental health care system. I believe that there are many ways we can grow and heal. For this reason, I also incorporate meditation, breathing, and movement techniques. Every session is tailored to what best fits you and your needs, but we are not limited in the techniques I utilize. Let’s find what works best for you.

The approach I use is called TEAM Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It is based on working with distressing thoughts that lead to our distressing emotions and then to our actions. We do this by T- testing gathers data on your mood and relationship satisfaction for a good baseline of where we are starting, to help monitor our progress, and to help me better understand what you are experiencing. E- empathy for the client to feel heard and accepted for who they are is a critical part of therapy due to this it is important that we create a strong and empathetic bond where you can express yourself freely.

Professional Experience

I obtained my bachelor’s in psychology (2011) and master’s in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington with honors (2016).

I followed my passion to help people by working for local government agencies such as the county psychiatric hospital and mental health resource center. In these roles I received extensive training and gained years of valuable experience.

Luckily, I lived in a county with rich community resources. My roles ranged from mental health professional in a residential crisis clinic to adolescent support for teens being released out of a juvenile detention facility.

I found my work extremely rewarding for over five years in mental health services and received many awards for the work that I provided. In 2016 I left Texas to share my knowledge on a global level and learn more from other countries. For about three years I moved around the world to work on different philanthropy projects in a psychological role. From Europe to Asia I held many different roles and worked with many different populations learning something new from each experience.

In 2018 I moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where I have been in private practice for three years and involved in different community mental health projects. Where I am dedicated to supporting expats and communities with mental health resources.