Eva Smith, MFT

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and hold a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic Psychotherapy.  My client-centered, collaborative therapeutic style is significantly informed by relational, somatic, attachment, psychodynamic and mindfulness-based approaches to psychotherapy, as well as Buddhist psychology.

I welcome people of all genders, sexual orientations and cultural backgrounds and consider myself a body-positive and sex-positive therapist who is deeply interested in approaching mental health through a holistic, social justice lens.

I value the importance of creating a warm, welcoming and safe environment to explore what is creating suffering in your life and what may be contributing to dissatisfaction with or feelings of emptiness in your relationships. 

I am strongly influenced by the teachings of Tara Brach, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron and Jack Kornfield and appreciate how each of these Buddhist teachers include self-compassion as one of the foundations of practice. 

My Background

I earned a Masters degree in Somatic Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and am licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California.

I completed a traineeship at JFK University’s Holistic Counseling Center in Oakland working with couples, individuals and children from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds, as well as co-facilitating a women’s process group.  

I have also completed three additional years of intensive training in psychodynamic and relational psychotherapy at the Women’s Therapy Center in Berkeley, CA. This training focused on social justice and how cultural context impacts mental health, identity and well-being. Throughout this time, I had the opportunity to work with a wide spectrum of individual women, teens, and couples.  

I have trained in and assisted with Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for the treatment of trauma, a body-oriented integration technique for releasing past trauma. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy helps you move through unprocessed trauma that has been holding you back and leading to fight/flight or freeze responses when stressed. This form of treatment considers the ways our bodies are processing information on the level of the nervous system and helps you build more resources and sense of safety inside yourself and in your day to day life.

I have training in Hakomi which is a mindfulness, somatic and experience-based approach to change.

My work with couples includes PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy) training and I use this along with attachment theory and neurosicence to build off of my somatic and relational background in supporting couples.

Other body-based practices that inform my work as a clinician include hatha yoga, conscious dance, time in nature and my own insight (Vipassana) meditation practice of many years.  

My specialties

I specialize in working with couples and adult individuals. I work with a wide range of struggles including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), childhood trauma, emotional and sexual abuse, anxiety, grief and loss, depression and co-dependency issues. I also work with folks interested in learning how to identify and set healthy boundaries and to find a greater sense of creative flow and empowerment in their lives.

I strongly believe in tailoring the therapy to meet your individual needs and in finding a pace that helps you come forward naturally. I love working with healers, those in the helping professions and highly sensitive people (HSP’s) as well as people in all fields interested in coming into kinder, more compassionate relationships with themselves and with their bodies. Somatic, mindfulness-based therapy helps you experience a more grounded and easeful you.

"The most precious gift we can offer is our presence.  When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."
- Thich Nhat Hahn

Certificates and affiliations