Lura Smedstad, LPC
Minnesota · 20 years in practice
Lura Smedstad is a Licensed Professional Counselor who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and life transitions.
License and registration
- LPC, Minnesota
- 01916 · expires October 2026
- NPI
- 1750839551 · national provider identifier
- Years in practice
- 20
- Languages
- English
Details are as listed on the therapist's public professional profile. You can check the license with the issuing state board, and the NPI with the national registry.
About Lura
Lura Smedstad is a Licensed Professional Counselor who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and life transitions. She offers clear, compassionate care and focuses on helping clients find practical steps forward. Lura draws on two decades of clinical experience in Minnesota to support people through hard moments and major changes.
Her approach blends Emotionally-Focused Therapy with cognitive behavioral ideas and mindfulness practices. She also uses somatic techniques and elements of art therapy from her training.
Background and approach
Sessions aim to help people notice feelings in the body, understand unhelpful thinking, and try small changes that build better coping habits. Lura has a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in Art Therapy from Prescott College.
She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and has worked in a variety of community and clinical settings over twenty years. Her background includes practicum work in psychiatric care and many years leading adult education programs focused on personal growth. She frames therapy as a collaborative process where clients name their priorities and try realistic next steps.
Conversations are straightforward and warm, with an emphasis on discovering inner strengths and practical supports. Many people appreciate a direct approach that still feels caring. Lura provides sessions from Minnesota using video, phone, chat, or messaging formats.
She guides each person toward sustainable goals, whether the focus is grief, relationships, parenting concerns, addictions, or career stress.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Lura lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Self esteem
- Addictions
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Compassion fatigue
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Life purpose
- Postpartum depression
Approaches Lura names
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist lists and does not check training records.
Online support
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centers on noticing emotions and patterns that shape relationships and personal responses; online sessions can help people name key feelings and practice new ways of responding. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavioral changes to reduce anxiety and improve mood, a good fit for structured video or phone sessions. Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and grounding skills to reduce stress and increase present-moment awareness, useful across video, phone, chat, or messaging.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and comfort level. That decision can evolve over time, with regular check-ins so the plan stays useful and realistic.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for emotion-focused and CBT work, phone sessions can be helpful when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed, and live chat or text messaging supports brief updates, reflection between sessions, or ongoing coaching-style contact. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, or geographic limits while working toward clear, attainable goals.
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Questions people ask
What concerns does she commonly address?
She helps people with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and parenting concerns, addictions, trauma and related issues like compassion fatigue and career stress.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her style is direct and compassionate, blending emotionally-focused work with cognitive, mindfulness, and somatic elements to create practical, personalized plans.
How long has she practiced counseling?
She has about 20 years of experience working in counseling and related educational roles across several settings.
What credential and region should I know about?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) practicing in Minnesota.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can people outside the United States work with her?
International clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are available online?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How are costs and starting therapy handled?
Costs vary with location and therapist availability and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time; to start, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to availability.
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