About Rilda
Rilda Smith offers straightforward support for people facing stress, anxiety, grief, sleep trouble, and major life changes. She writes in a direct way and focuses on practical steps people can use.
Background and approach
Rilda is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist - LMFT - with 22 years of experience based in Oklahoma. Her work begins by listening to each person's story and recognizing their strengths.
She treats problems such as caregiver strain, compassion fatigue, anger, low self-esteem, and depression. She also helps with parenting concerns, money stress, and challenges tied to identity and cultural transition.
Rilda uses approaches that help clients notice what’s happening now and try small changes. She draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to address thinking and behavior patterns.
She also uses client-centered listening and mindfulness strategies to slow down intense feelings. She has a long history helping Third Culture Kids and adults who grew up between cultures, particularly during transitions to life in the United States.
That work includes addressing abandonment and attachment issues as well as cultural and multicultural concerns. Sessions are aimed at clear, doable steps: improving sleep habits, managing anger, setting boundaries, or handling grief that isn’t only about death.
Rilda tends to keep language plain and goals practical so people can use what they learn right away. If someone wants to begin, she asks them to share their story and together they create goals and a path forward.
How these approaches work online
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and understanding a person’s experience. The therapist mirrors what a person says, helps them feel heard, and supports them in choosing their own goals. This approach is useful for people dealing with grief, self-esteem concerns, and relationship stress.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going. It breaks big problems into smaller steps, helps people test unhelpful thoughts, and builds new habits for sleep, anger management, or anxiety. CBT is practical and often includes homework between sessions.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist works together with the client to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That means trying a few ideas, adjusting them, and keeping what works best for each person.
Online sessions are offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into daily life. Video lets people talk face to face, phone can be simpler when bandwidth is limited, live chat or text messaging work for quick check-ins or ongoing support without being on camera. These options give flexibility for scheduling, shorter check-ins, and continued progress from different locations.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Grief
- Sleeping disorders
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Oklahoma
- Languages
- English