Elisa Mantel-Smith

Elisa Mantel-Smith is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-R) based in New York. She brings ten years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, anger, and major life changes. Her approach is warm and down-to-earth, aiming to meet each person where they are.

Elisa uses practical, person-focused methods to help clients untangle immediate problems. She listens closely, clarifies goals, and helps people build steps they can try between sessions. Her work often addresses relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting challenges, addiction-related struggles, and complications from trauma and loss.

Her training includes approaches such as client-centered work, cognitive behavioral techniques, emotionally-focused therapy, solution-focused strategies, and trauma-focused therapy. Elisa adapts these methods to the issue at hand rather than sticking to one fixed model. Sessions tend to focus on clear tools, emotion work, and problem-solving tailored to each person.

Elisa has supported people with additional concerns like adoption and foster care questions, autism and Asperger Syndrome, body-image issues, caregiver stress, and eating-related problems. She also has experience with obsessive thoughts and compulsions, panic attacks, phobias, and challenges tied to fertility or cancer diagnoses.

If someone wants to begin, they can start by using the site’s Start Therapy button to complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to her availability. The subscription used for sessions can be canceled at any time.

How Elisa’s Approaches Translate to Online Work

Elisa often draws on client-centered work and cognitive behavioral therapy in sessions. Client-centered therapy focuses on understanding your perspective and building trust so you can find your own answers. Cognitive behavioral therapy looks at patterns of thought and behavior and offers exercises to change unhelpful habits and reduce symptoms such as anxiety or anger.

She also uses emotionally-focused and trauma-informed ideas when emotions or past events are central to the problem. Those approaches help name feelings, improve emotional connection to one’s own experience, and develop new ways of responding to painful memories and triggers. Choosing which approach to emphasize is a collaborative process; Elisa will discuss goals and try methods that fit your needs and preferences.

If you are considering online work, confirm the current session options before booking since formats are not specified here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time. Many people find it simpler to schedule around work, school, or caregiving responsibilities, and therapists help tailor the pacing and homework to fit everyday routines.