About me

 
I am a clinical social worker with experience working as a psychotherapist, family consultant, clinical educator, program developer, trainer and advocate.

I have a private psychotherapy practice with a focus on general mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, grief, and life transitions. I also provide family consultation on psychotic disorders.

I am a certified trainer in Critical Time Intervention and I am affiliated with the Center for the Advancement of CTI. I train nationally and internationally in this model. Recent work includes supporting statewide implementation of CTI in New Hampshire and support of a research project that combines CTI with Peer Support in Portugal through the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health.

I work to promote humane response to people living with serious mental illness and train in psychosocial treatment and psychiatric rehabilitation models.

Contact me:

919-283-1608
bebe@bebesmith.com

Follow me on Medium:
medium.com/@bebe_smith

My North Carolina clinical social work license is under my legal name, Barbara B. Smith, MSW, LCSW (C002620).

I am registered as a Professional Social Worker Telehealth Provider in South Carolina (Credential #265)  https://llr.sc.gov/TeleHealth/SocialWork.html

My Work

Career
From 1995-2012, I worked in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, first as director of outpatient services for the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP), then as founder and co-director of the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health.  In 2005, I helped create Outreach and Support Intervention Services (OASIS), an early intervention program for young persons with emerging psychosis. OASIS, modeled after international programs in early psychosis, is an example of coordinated specialty care--youth-friendly, family-focused and team-based.

From 2012-2016, I was a clinical assistant professor at the UNC School of Social Work, and was project director for Critical Time Intervention: Local Pilot and Statewide Championing, a program funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Critical Time Intervention is an intensive case management model originally developed for people with severe mental illness who experience homelessness, with the goal of securing successful transitions to being housed. The model has also been used to promote successful transitions from hospitals and other institutions to community living, for transitional aged youth, and for persons experiencing interpersonal violence.

Teaching and Training
I have been a clinical educator for mental health professionals from a variety of disciplines for more than 20 years, and continue to teach and train in local, state, national and international settings.

Education
I graduated from Vassar College with a BA in English in 1984, and received my MSW from the UNC School of Social Work in 1993. I worked as a volunteer in a psychiatric hospital in England in 1984; and received some of my best training as a graduate student at Club Nova, a clubhouse model program in Carrboro.

I was the NASW North Carolina Social Worker of the Year for 2012.