Laura Smestad

Dr. Laura Smestad is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the state of Washington, a National Certified Counselor, and a National Certified School Counselor. Dr. Smestad has been practicing as a mental health therapist since 2014, and she has teaching in higher education since 2020. She is currently a core faculty member in the mental health counseling program at Walden. Dr. Smestad is the owner of Informed OCD Counseling, a practice based in Seattle, Washington that specializes in providing evidence-based treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and OC-related disorders. Prior to her work as an OCD specialist, Dr. Smestad worked as a professional school counselor, and she was named Elementary School Counselor of the Year for the state of Louisiana in 2019. Her primary areas of interest include OCD, counselor education, disparities in treatment, and school counseling.

Education

PhD, Antioch University Seattle

MA, University of Holy Cross

BA, Louisiana State University

Awards / Honors

Emerging Leader, Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 2021

Elementary School Counselor of the Year, Louisiana School Counselor Association, 2019

Presentations

Smestad, L. (2023). How to Create a Collaborative Classroom in a Trauma-Informed Way..

Smestad, L. (2023). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Across Cultures.

Smestad, L. (2023). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Social Justice Advocacy.