Brad H. Smith, Ph.D.

As difficult as it may be, painful experiences can be amazing opportunities for growth. However, it’s difficult to learn from your life when you’re going it alone. I can help with that.

This isn’t my first career, and everywhere I’ve been I’ve counseled people through some of the most difficult challenges life can offer: anxiety, depression, family conflict, childhood trauma, abuse, divorce, grief, and just feeling lost. When you’re in that place it can feel like you’ll never make it out, but that is only true if you allow it to be. Sometimes all it takes is finding the right language, as language leads to insight, and insight grants us agency. Often what we need is a new perspective. I can provide that with calm empathy and without judgment.

I grew up in Iowa and have a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Missouri (Columbia). I’m an experienced mentor with a background in spiritual development, having taught at the college level, the high school level, and to kids as young as third grade. I believe all people are born creative and the loss of creativity is a sad reality of socialization.

When we create we exist in a state of openness that allows us to engage the world in new, surprising ways. When we create we learn about ourselves and we expand our empathy. My classes are rooted in a contemplative, rather than analytical, approach to reading, and aim for a mode of expression that transcends the limitations of the self.

In addition to my work at CCA I am an Assistant Football Coach at Liberty High School (Wentzville) where I coach Quarterbacks.