Michelle Little Smith, MSW, LCSW is the owner and founder of Counseling Associates at the Lake, Inc.
Michelle graduated from Clemson University in 1991 with a degree in Psychology and went on to obtain her Masters degree in Social Work with a Mental Health specialty in 1993. She has 25 years of post-graduate experience in providing direct clinical services to clients. Michelle began her career in Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD and then went on to work as a School Social Worker in Iredell-Statesville Schools for one year, spent 7 years as a therapist at Magellan Behavioral Health in Charlotte, NC and then started her own private practice in Cornelius, NC in 2002. After 12 years of a thriving private practice, Michelle decided to expand wanting to form a team of likeminded therapists who shared her same passion and dedication to their work and their clients and founded Counseling Associates at the Lake, Inc. in 2014.
Michelle works with children, adolescents, adults of all ages and couples. She has a special interest and expertise in parenting/family issues, parent training, couples/marital therapy, behavioral and/or emotional issues of all kinds with children and teens, women’s issues, infertility, adoption, depression, anxiety, grief and general life stressors and transitions. Her therapeutic style tends to be somewhat eclectic, attempting to tailor to each individual client’s needs but using a very solution focused and cognitive behavioral approach. One of Michelle’s strengths is her ability to build a quick rapport with her clients and helping them to feel comfortable and at ease as they begin the therapeutic process. She meets clients where they are and helps them to define their goals and to reach them in a most efficient and effective manner.
Michelle is a warm, kind, and open minded person and therapist with both a great sense of humor and a deep care and compassion for her clients. She prides herself on the great relationships she builds with her clients, the very genuine personal attention they receive and the comfort they feel working with her. Michelle is highly dedicated to her clients and all who have met her feel immediately her true care for them and her compassionate understanding of what a privilege it is to be a part of her client’s lives during some of their most difficult times. Michelle truly feels lucky every single day to have the honor of doing what she does!
Michelle offers day and evening appointments and tries hard to accommodate her client’s busy lives and schedules. She is a provider for most all the major insurance companies and also accepts self-pay and sliding scale fees as needed for clients without insurance or the financial means to pay full hourly rates.
When not working Michelle most enjoys spending time with her husband, teenage daughter, family and friends at Lake Norman.
Contact Information:
(704) 301.5424
mjlsmithlcsw@gmail.com