Lisa Smith

I am a licensed clinical social worker with more than 20 years of experience in community mental health and medical social work. My practice is increasingly focused on supporting people who are living with serious, progressive, or life-limiting illness, as well as the partners and family members who are facing it alongside them.

Serious illness can change the way we think about almost everything—our future, our relationships, our independence, our bodies, and what makes life meaningful. I offer a place to talk openly about the things that can be difficult to say elsewhere: fear of dying, grief about what is being lost, anger, uncertainty, changing roles and abilities, worries about becoming a burden, and questions about what matters most when time may be limited.

I also work with people navigating difficult decisions about medical care and the end of life, including those who are thinking about Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) or Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED), as well as family members who may be struggling with or grieving those decisions. My role is not to steer clients toward a particular choice, but to provide a thoughtful, nonjudgmental space to explore their values, fears, hopes, relationships, and options.

Grief does not begin only after someone dies. I work with people experiencing anticipatory grief—the person who is ill as well as spouses, partners, adult children, friends, and other loved ones who are trying to live with the knowledge that someone they love may be dying.

I am also a member of the LGBTQ+ community and have extensive experience working with LGBTQ+ clients. I understand that serious illness, caregiving, aging, and end-of-life care can raise particular concerns for LGBTQ+ people, including questions about family, identity, relationships, safety, and whether healthcare providers will understand and respect who they are. LGBTQ+ clients are welcome here without having to educate their therapist about the fundamentals of their lives.

My approach is warm, direct, collaborative, and grounded in the belief that conversations about dying are also conversations about living. Even when we cannot change what is happening, there can still be room to consider what matters, what we want from the time ahead, how we want to relate to the people we love, and how we want to live for as long as we're here.