Hidden Gems: Meet Kristina Smith of Village Wellness Center, A Family Counseling Corporation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristina Smith.

Hi Kristina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve known that I wanted to be a therapist since the age of 15, although, I didn’t really know what that meant for a very long time. Regardless, this belief lead me to earn my undergraduate degree in Psychology after high school and begin my journey working in the mental health field in residential treatment programs for at-risk youths and youths with severe, emotional disturbance for the next five years.

After relocating from Northern to Southern California while still in my 20’s, I decided to gain experience working in child development to explore human development in the child and adolescent stages of life and worked for a child development organization for three years. Within this organization, I had an opportunity to take a position in the Human Resources Department, which I found to be a perfect way to transition my new curiosity of human development in the adult years and relational dynamics into direct experience. After two years in this position, I decided to step away to start my family and my new career of being a mom.

When my first child was born, I suffered from undiagnosed perinatal mood and anxiety disorder. I say “undiagnosed” for two reasons. The first reason is because in the early 2000’s, maternal mental health was not a focus a care. In fact, it was still a time when the experiences of women throughout the perinatal period were minimized and dismissed by physicians, and therefore never assessed with any real significance. As a result, my reason number two exists, which is that, while I knew something was wrong, I didn’t, or more accurately, couldn’t, understand what was going on and felt I had to accept it as a “normal” experience.

Over the next couple of years, my new life as a mom settled in and as I started to feel better, I wanted to grow our family. By this time, maternal mental health was being talked about a little more and my new doctor was an advocate for the emotional and mental wellbeing of women and promptly referred me to a therapist for support with my next pregnancy and impending postpartum stage. While I was successful at navigating the experience with my second child, I never forgot my experience with my first and this is what ultimately led me to specialize in maternal mental health and perinatal care for moms.

When my two kids were ages three and 18 months, I decided to enroll in graduate school and earn my Master’s Degree in Psychology to finally fulfill the dream I’ve carried with me since the age of 15. After two and a half years, I graduated with a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology and started the long process of obtaining the 3,000 hours of clinical work required to take my licensing exam.

Over the next three years, I worked in community mental health programs providing care to those that suffer from chronic and persistent mental health disorders, homelessness, addiction, and criminal offenses. While very difficult work, I loved being able to care for those that are often left behind and forgotten. In this space, I not only learned what being a therapist is; I learned who I really am as a person in this world and where my work now needed to focus, so I took my licensing exam and a short time later, started down my path of helping other women struggling with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders just as I once did.

I started building my new practice, Mother Warrior Counseling, with a primary goal to eliminate as many obstacles for moms getting care that I could think of. I offered lower fees to address the barrier of self care guilt. I offered in-home sessions to address the barriers of finding childcare, disrupting a schedule, or even leaving the house. I offered walk and talk sessions to address the barriers of disrupting nap time or carefully curated schedule. And, I encouraged moms to bring their children with them to sessions to make attending easier and to also provide the mom with some relief and modeling as part of the treatment. The practice was beginning to build and then the pandemic came and changed everything.

At this point, all care was being provided virtually and for many people this was not a preferred method of receiving therapy and they would stop seeking support. I knew that so many people were struggling and I wanted to figure out a way to bridge the new gap between people needing support and receiving support the way that it now existed. I also knew that in order to help more people, I needed to build a team of therapists who shared my vision and believed in my mission. As I was exploring the different ways of achieving this, I revisited an earlier goal of hiring pre-licensed therapists to help them grow in the field and be a mentor in their professional lives and I realized that I finally met the licensing requirements to do this. I decided to move forward with building a team of licensed and pre-licensed therapists to provide the help that our community needed.

After a short time, one employee grew to two, then three, etc. and I realized that each of us focused our work on different things. I worked with women and moms, another worked with teens and mood disorders, another worked with trauma, and so on. Soon I realized that Mother Warrior Counseling did not accurately reflect all of the differences in our clients so I rebranded to include all of the work we were doing and could do within a family system and in 2021 we became Village Wellness Center, A Family Counseling Corporation.

I am so proud of what Village Wellness has become known for and for all of the amazing therapists that have come from the vision and values of care, connection, and community that we hold dear. We have truly created a village of providers for those seeking support and help in our communities and we are ever changing in our areas of interest and specializations. For me, I will always honor the work I do with all of my clients and stay truly inspired by each and every person who puts their trust in me to hold their stories. I continue to primarily work with women and moms and am beginning to explore adding in a new specialization of supporting our ever growing “sandwich generation” of adults who are navigating the struggles of raising their children and supporting their aging parents through the later stages of life.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
While it hasn’t been a “smooth road”, I believe it was a necessary one. I’ve often said that I wish I would have gone to graduate school earlier in my life and not in my late 30’s with two small kids. But, then I realize that if I was ready when I was younger, then I would have missed out on so much of what I learned that actually readied me when the time came.

With that said, the road itself was not without obstacles. By the time I returned to graduate school, I was married with two kids under 4 years and our economy was in a downfall. There were financial strains to figure out, my absence from the home while in school to accommodate, and all of the time I missed with my kids and spouse.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Village Wellness was born from Mother Warrior Counseling to encompass the full range of care that we provide to the whole family. Village was establish in 2021 and quickly became known as a trusted psychotherapy/counseling practice that values care, connection and community and is also known as an ethical and professional place of employment.

At our Village Wellness location in San Juan Capistrano, there are a variety of therapists who specialize in different areas of treatment. We see adolescents, teens, and adults for individual, couples, family therapy both in person and virtually. We welcome anyone who is seeking supportive care, however, we have a range of specialties where we also treat specific disorders and challenges such as trauma, postpartum mood & anxiety, parenting, grief & loss, men’s issues, women’s issues, life transitions, relationship struggles, and more.

Currently, we offer a 10% discount off of your first, full-fee, session as a new client.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I think there is a tremendous value in having a mentor in our field, especially a business mentor to guide a newer practice owner through all of the important legal, ethical, and licensing aspects of practice ownership. In general, people in our field have a difficult time understanding how to be a therapist and a business owner. They are two completely different hats and often times the requirements of being a business owner are in contrast to what it means to be a therapist. A mentor who has done the work, made the mistakes, and has been successful at figuring out how and when to wear which hat, can be one of the best supports new practice owners can find for themselves.

In regards to networking, all networking is necessary, however, I strongly encourage in-person networking to not only build a more trusted referral base, it also helps in building professional relationships, collaborations, and future opportunities. I believe there is nothing more impactful than to sit with a person and get to know that person both professionally and personally. I guarantee that it will make a more lasting imprint than any virtual meeting or recommendation from another person ever will!

I learned the importance of both of these over the past 10+ years. After staring my solo practice, Mother Warrior Counseling, I had to learn through many trial and error situations. Making mistakes and finding the answers brought about a lot of frustration and wishing I had someone to guide me, so after starting my group practice, I became a go-to for other therapists looking to start their own practices. I still offer this support to anyone needing the help!

When I ventured out on my own in South OC, I didn’t have a network of other providers in my area to meet with and I didn’t like the feeling of isolation it evoked, so I started my own meet up group to find my people. About 8 years ago, I started a group called South OC Therapist Tribe on meetup.com. This was my way of trying to connect with other therapists in the area and build a referral network as I was building my business. As the group grew over the years, I’ve moved it to Facebook and we continue to get member requests regularly. I hold monthly get togethers called “gatherings” where we typically meet at a local restaurant and just spend the next couple of hours causally chatting with others who attend. It’s been an amazing experience watching therapists from all backgrounds, specialties, and locations get to know one another just because they are sitting next to each other over dinner. It’s one of my favorite things and I’m told by members all the time that they really enjoy the causal nature of the monthly gatherings.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myvillagewc.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/villagewellnesscenter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myvillagewellness
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/village-wellness-center/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: @villagewellnesscenter
• Yelp: https://yelp.com/biz/village-wellness-center-san-juan-capistrano

Image Credits

Kaysha Weiner Photographer
Cheryl Sheik
Reagan Nilsson