Jared Smiley, LPC Atlanta
"The good life is a process...it's a direction, not a destination."    -Carl Rogers
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Service

I work with adult individuals across the lifespan in psychotherapy as we identify workability in life and sustainable health together. Counseling with youth/minors and family therapy and couples therapy are offered upon consultation only. Groups are periodically offered, so please inquire if interested. 
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Clients come with stress, confusion, challenge, frustration, and pain. Also, courage, wisdom, intent, and innate capability. Whether unfamiliar or well-known, new or longstanding, these experiences often signal growth. In psychotherapy, activating this growth involves vulnerability, learning and healing. With a humanistic and experiential approach, I offer nurturing, pluralistic psychotherapy to adults and adolescents. Personality, relationship, mood, mind-body are special areas of experience and interest. Joining my clients wherever they are in life, offering a warm guiding light, is a privilege.

Clients and I work to create a safe learning environment. Interpersonal process/feedback, therapeutic dialogue, intuitive offering, embodiment practice, supporting ease, using instruments, quiet, planning are all ways clients and I may engage. Creativity, curiosity, and the client's own felt sense are keys that unlock tension and promote healing.

Come as you are; you and all parts of you are welcome. We are here to greet and welcome your experiences, to hear you, and to work with discomfort and pain rather than against it. You can heal. Ease is possible. For more information about my background, perspective and approach there is more to read here on my website, and feel free to reach out.

Though clients' goals for therapy are various, I aim to truthfully and carefully engage with you in the present to identify needs, open meaningful exchange, and humbly accompany and support your direction and healing. I hope to cultivate lasting learning with you and assist you in discovering new ways of understanding and embracing yourself and your original life. In our time together, your growth is my primary concern.​
Though not much is clearly known until we sit down with each other, here is some of what you can expect getting started: Initial paperwork usually takes 15-20 minutes to complete. It's full of more description, as well as the legal and ethical requirements to consent. The first session lasts one hour, and we typically explore a breadth of background information at some depth, get a picture of your most pressing concerns, and discuss logistics as needed. Subsequent sessions for individual psychotherapy last 50 minutes and usually occur weekly or semi-weekly; sometimes more and sometimes less depending on your wants and needs, which are also fluid. If you plan on using your insurance coverage, find out what your mental health benefits are before scheduling your first appointment. If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, a 24-hour notice is required to avoid the cancellation fee (equal to your rate; exceptions are made with discretion for emergencies).
What the process can include:
  • Resource lists, handouts, references, videos, etc. germane to your goals.
  • Parent/guardian consultations in the case of therapy with child(ren) or adolescent(s) when appropriate.
  • Referral information for other relevant professionals when appropriate.
  • *Writing letters to related professionals germane to your needs (psychiatrists, teachers, doctors, etc.) providing information about the course of therapy when appropriate.
  • *Brief phone conversations with related professionals on your behalf when appropriate.
  • Occasional brief phone consultations between sessions during business hours when appropriate.
  • E-mail contact between sessions to share information or check in.
*At your request

Forms

You'll need to fill out some forms in order for us to get started. It usually takes about 20 minutes to go through and complete. 

Adults

Minors

*Parents/Guardians will need to cosign these forms.

Finances

The rate is $200 per individual session. For couples and family therapy, $325 per 80-minute session. Group rates vary as they are offered.

I am not in-network with any insurance panels, and we can provide you a superbill for any out-of-network benefits your plan offers to cover some of the cost of therapy. It's important to contact your insurance provider and ask about your mental/behavioral health coverage. In some cases, a sliding-scale fee can be arranged based on availability.

Practicing under GA State license number LPC006910 | Expires 9/30/2026
Practicing under CT State license number LPC007852 | Expires 10/31/2025
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5 things to know about starting psychotherapy...

  1. Beginning a process like this marks a point in time when you decide to move toward health and wellbeing in a different way. Let that intention guide you. The whole purpose of psychotherapy is to promote healing and an enhanced quality of life.
  2. Be honest and go at your own pace. A sound psychotherapist wants to listen in and hear about what's true for you, not judge it. I'm here to serve you and assist you in your healing, and I want you to live the true, quality life you deserve--and truly need--to live. Authenticity (goodness of fit) and vulnerability in relationships are crucial components of interpersonal success, and the same goes for the therapy relationship.
  3. Growth and change can at times be uncomfortable or painful experiences. Often organizations come apart, fields burn, caterpillars transfigure, and people go through struggle in order for synchronicity, fertility, potency, and success to occur. Having compassion for ourselves during such critical and formative times of our lives does us a great service.
  4. Be intentional. There are costs and benefits to engaging in psychotherapy, so have a sense for yourself of what brings you to this juncture. What you might gain and what you might risk; where you've been and where you're wanting to go. You are always going to be in charge of your own therapy.
  5. Psychotherapy is a relationship. Fundamentally, psychotherapy is an encounter between two human beings. We paint and layer all kinds of color and detail to that basic exchange, including professional titles, educational backgrounds, family histories, even names like "client," "psychotherapist," "patient," and "counselor." Although there is expertise in the equation, it is important to remember that at the core people have contracted to work together in a supportive relationship. Like any other healthy relationship, it's set up on safety, trust and respect and runs on communication and expression.
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"How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole." -Carl G. Jung

Frequently asked questions...

  • What do I need to bring with me to my first appointment?
If you are planning on using your insurance, bring your ID and insurance card for me to copy; also, any paperwork I sent you to complete before your appointment. 
  • Does seeing a therapist mean that I'm crazy or that something is wrong with me?
I'm happy to debunk a myth or clarify misinformation, and I'm particularly excited to give an emphatic NO for this one. The reasons people seek psychotherapy are as diverse as people are. Remember, it's all about your personal health and well-being in the context of our collective wellness.

That being said, sometimes there is mental illness to identify and address. Regardless, p
eople come to therapy bravely out of a decision to seek health and wholeness with another (therapist), which typically results in increased satisfaction, joy, peace, and purpose. Often human beings can lose touch with their sense of self, identity, and wholeness, or encounter painful and extreme experiences which wound a fundamental sense of trust and ability to connect. Therapy is often about relearning skills, restoring direction, reclaiming essence, and experiencing a safe relationship focused on rediscovering your Self as a healthy, joyful and whole person; and a whole person vitally existing in a collective. Anxiety, depression, addiction are often symptoms. Symptoms of what?
  • What is psychotherapy? 
Although the nuances look different between therapists, the essence of psychotherapy is the same across the board: it is an artful and scientific healthcare process designed to facilitate human growth and psychological and social healing. To promote health and well-being. Words like "change" and "goal" and "treatment" and "intention" sometimes come up. But you'll find an array of methods different practitioners use, so this definition can vary amongst us. You can find out more about how I practice on the Home page.
  • How can it help?
Everyone suffers, and none of us are necessarily born with knowing how to cope with the suffering of life, grow from it, and use it to connect to and empower ourselves and our communities. However, we are born with the equipment to learn and the potential for growth. The psychotherapist is in a unique position to help you tap into your potential and accompany you through what's in store.

Unattended psychological wounds, chronic emotional pain, social suppression, and increasing environmental pressure appear to be pervasive among us humans worldwide. We are continuously shown evidence for how powerful that impact can be on us. Psychotherapy can help you cope with and reduce stress, reinvigorate worthiness, reignite creativity, make new meaning, rediscover purpose, cultivate healthy relationships, reconnect with love, restore peace, heal from trauma, and the list goes on. You get to decide what it will be for you. Among other things, psychotherapy is a process designed to help you discover your most satisfying and rewarding way of being in this world. 
  • How does it work?
Therapy can work in lots of ways. Additionally, your degree of interest, level of commitment, desired intensity, natural inclinations, motivation and openness are all contributors. Here's what makes sense to me:

With broader strokes I can point to some of what the literature suggests about what makes psychotherapy effective. The simple answer is the relationship. A healthy relationship built on safety, communication, trust, and respect is one of the two strongest predictors of psychotherapy effectiveness. The mutual belief that psychotherapy will be helpful is the other. Advances in neuroscience and the development of interpersonal neurobiology show us that the brain physically changes in response to our environments and our relationships with each other, and its own firing patterns (neurons that fire together wire together); this is called neuroplasticity, and it teaches us that we can change our brains and alter the way we experience our lives, the World, and each other. These advances in neuropsychology reveal that healthy relationships literally change our brains and confirm their power to change life. We can have new interpersonal experiences that act as springboards for helping us get to new places in our lives. The therapeutic relationship can be one of these. With caring attention at the foundation, many therapists regardless of theoretical orientation or training honor the client-therapist relationship and work to establish a safe space in which psychological work can be done. 
  • How often do I need to come?
How often you come depends on a few factors: what you're coming in for, who you are, the kind of work you and your therapist will be doing together, your preferences, desired intensity and commitment, the therapist's style, etc. This is a conversation you and your therapist will have in the beginning.

In my experience, coming weekly is fairly standard and seems to work best especially in the beginning as the process is getting started and gaining momentum. That would be four doses of psychotherapy per month, to put it a different way. Coming twice a month may allow for a less intensive experience, and twice a week can increase it.
  • What's the difference between a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist?
A psychotherapist is a trained mental health professional with a Master's degree or higher and a license to practice in their state who uses theoretical models, assessments and interventions to engage a person or persons in psychological work. Based in psychology and related schools, psychotherapy is a special kind of healthcare service and a unique type of relationship built on professional ethics and safe boundaries designed to promote human growth and enhanced satisfaction and quality of life.

 A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in using medicine to treat symptoms of classified psychiatric disorders, and other mental healthcare needs within the Western Medical Model. Many psychiatrists practice psychotherapy and hold a comprehensive view of healing. If you're interested in psychiatry, it is important to ask them about how they practice.

What's next?

JSP, LLC

Jared Smiley Psychotherapy, LLC
P: 678-404-0898
E: contact@jaredsmiley.com
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Clients have said...

"I appreciate how gentle and direct you were--just holding rather than pushing. I think I prefer that a lot more. You helped me a great deal..."
"Loving environment. Jared makes a safe and comfortable space to share and explore important and deep parts of myself."

"Awesome perspective. I just love his take on things and the way he sees life."
"His way of being calming, warm, nonintrusive, insightful, and observant is exactly what I've needed to sit with and work through these tough parts of my life."
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