Ava (Tamara) Smith
Registered Clinical Counsellor | Founder
Nervous System, Somatic & Psychedelic-Assisted Approaches in Kelowna, BC
Helping people move from survival into living—building a more connected relationship with themselves, their bodies, and the lives they are here to live.
How Ava Works:
Ava’s approach is relational, strengths-based, and deeply informed by the nervous system. She works from the understanding that many of the patterns we struggle with once developed for good reason — as ways of protecting, adapting, and surviving.
Her work draws from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Somatic Experiencing®, EMDR, attachment-based approaches, and extensive training in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Rather than focusing only on what is “wrong,” Ava helps clients become curious about what their system is trying to communicate and what may be ready to shift.
She brings warmth, honesty, intuition, and depth into the room, supporting clients in building greater self-trust, emotional capacity, and connection with themselves. The goal is not to endlessly revisit the past, but to help the nervous system integrate what has already been lived so that more choice, presence, and freedom become available now.
Ava works especially well with people who have already done meaningful inner work and are ready to move beyond simply understanding themselves intellectually. Her approach is best suited to those who want to feel more fully without becoming overwhelmed, relate to themselves with greater compassion and curiosity, and live with increasing authenticity, steadiness, and aliveness.
At the heart of Ava’s work is a simple belief: healing is not about becoming someone new. It is about creating enough safety and connection to remember who you have always been.
BEYOND THE THERAPY ROOM
Ava is also a mother, a role that has profoundly shaped how she understands love, presence, nervous systems, and what it means to keep growing alongside another human being.
She is a small-town girl at heart, happiest near water, on a trail, moving her body, travelling somewhere new, or sitting around a table in deep conversation. A former NCAA Division I basketball player and marathon runner, movement has always been one of the ways she returns to herself.
Her own life has taken her through many seasons of change, loss, healing, reinvention, and beginning again. Those experiences have deepened her respect for the intelligence of the human system and strengthened her belief that healing is not simply about reducing symptoms — it is about becoming more available for your own life.
Ava values authenticity, curiosity, courage, connection, and presence. She believes there is something deeply powerful about learning to meet ourselves with less judgment and more honesty, and that when we do, our relationships and choices begin to change naturally.
Outside the therapy room, you will most often find her with her daughter, near the lake, dancing, writing, creating, laughing with people she loves, or finding yet another reason to be outside.
Her hope for the people she works with is simple: not merely that they feel better, but that they feel more fully themselves — more connected, more alive, and increasingly free to live the life that is already theirs.
Adults
Women
Trauma & Attachment
Nervous System Regulation
Life Transitions & Identity
Self-Worth & Boundaries
Relationship Patterns
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy & Integration
Areas of Interest:
Voices That Shape Ava’s Work:
Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing)
Richard Schwartz (Internal Family Systems)
Brené Brown (The Daring Way / Rising Strong)
Gabor Maté
Deb Dana (Polyvagal-informed work)
Janina Fisher (Trauma & Parts Work)
Carl Rogers (Person-Centred Therapy)
Psychedelic-assisted therapy research and emerging clinical practice
Therapeutic Approaches:
Somatic Experiencing®
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Attachment-Based Perspectives
Relational & Person-Centred Therapy
Strengths-Based Therapy
Nervous System-Informed Approaches
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Preparation & Integration
THE PERSPECTIVES BEHIND THE PRACTICE
Ava’s work has been shaped by clinicians, researchers, teachers, and lived experience across the fields of trauma, attachment, somatics, parts work, relationships, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. No single modality defines her approach. Instead, she draws from these perspectives with curiosity and flexibility, responding to the person in front of her and what their system needs in that moment.
PSYCHEDELIC-ASSISTED THERAPY
Ava has completed extensive training and supervision in psychedelic-assisted therapy, including work with cannabis, psilocybin, and MDMA-assisted approaches.
She brings a trauma-informed, somatic, and nervous-system-informed lens to this work, with particular attention to preparation, pacing, safety, integration, and the capacity of each person’s system. Rather than pursuing intensity for its own sake, Ava is interested in creating the conditions for meaningful experiences to be met with enough support, presence, and time to integrate.
Her work in this field has also deeply influenced her broader counselling practice. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has strengthened her understanding of trauma, protective parts, embodiment, memory, and the importance of working with — rather than against — the nervous system.
Ava supports clients who are exploring whether psychedelic-assisted therapy may be appropriate for them, preparing for an upcoming experience, or seeking thoughtful integration afterward.
Training & Background
Ava is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with more than fifteen years of experience working in the fields of trauma, mental health, and personal growth. She holds a Master’s degree in Leadership and has completed extensive advanced training in trauma-informed, somatic, parts-based, and psychedelic-assisted approaches.
Her clinical training includes Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing®, attachment-based approaches, and nervous-system-informed therapy. She has also completed training in Brené Brown’s The Daring Way and Rising Strong curricula.
Over the years, Ava’s work has increasingly focused on the relationship between trauma, the nervous system, embodiment, identity, and connection. Her approach has been shaped not only by formal education and clinical training, but also by years of working closely with people navigating grief, trauma, relationship patterns, life transitions, and profound personal change.
Ava has also completed extensive training and supervision in psychedelic-assisted therapy, including cannabis-, psilocybin-, and ketamine-assisted approaches. This work has further deepened her understanding of preparation, integration, protective parts, nervous-system capacity, and the importance of pacing change in a way the whole person can absorb.
Across all of her training, Ava returns to the same principle: no modality matters more than the relationship, the person in front of her, and the wisdom already present within their system.
Extended Play…
A little more about Ava and the way she approaches this work.
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Working with Ava is warm, collaborative, curious, and grounded. She brings depth and honesty into the room without losing sight of humour, humanity, or the strengths a person already carries.
Sessions are not about being analyzed or told what is wrong. Ava pays attention to what is happening in the present moment — in thoughts, emotions, relationships, protective parts, and the nervous system — and helps clients develop a deeper ability to notice, understand, and stay connected to themselves.
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Insight can be incredibly valuable, but sometimes understanding why something happens does not necessarily change what happens in the body.
Ava’s approach includes conversation while also paying attention to nervous-system responses, emotion, sensation, protective patterns, and what is unfolding in the room. Depending on the person and the moment, sessions may draw from Somatic Experiencing®, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, attachment work, or other nervous-system-informed approaches.
The intention is not simply to understand your story more clearly, but to help what you already understand become something you can actually live.
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Ava primarily works with adults who have already developed some capacity for reflection and are interested in deeper integration, nervous-system regulation, relationship patterns, identity, self-worth, life transitions, and personal growth.
She works especially well with people who may understand themselves intellectually but still notice old patterns showing up in their bodies, emotions, or relationships.
Her practice is not focused on crisis intervention or intensive early-stage trauma processing.
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The nervous system is central to the way Ava understands healing.
Many patterns that can feel frustrating in adulthood — shutting down, over-functioning, people-pleasing, hypervigilance, disconnection, difficulty receiving, or becoming overwhelmed — can be understood as intelligent adaptations that once helped us stay safe.
Rather than fighting those responses, Ava helps clients become curious about them and gradually build greater capacity, flexibility, and choice. The goal is not to remain perfectly regulated, but to become increasingly able to stay connected to yourself through the natural expansion and contraction of being human.
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Ava has extensive training and supervision in psychedelic-assisted therapy and offers support related to preparation, integration, and appropriate psychedelic-assisted therapeutic work through KTLT.
This work is approached carefully and individually, with attention to readiness, safety, nervous-system capacity, intention, and integration. Psychedelic-assisted therapy is not viewed as a shortcut or a stand-alone experience, but as one possible part of a broader therapeutic process.
Ready to Begin?
If Ava’s approach feels like a good fit, you’re welcome to book a counselling session directly online.
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you have a question before booking, are wondering which service may be the best fit, or aren’t sure whether Ava is the right therapist for you, feel free to reach out using the form below.
Share a little about what you’re looking for and any questions you have. Ava or the KTLT team will respond and help point you toward the most appropriate next step.
If another therapist or service at Kelowna Trauma & Life Therapy would better meet your needs, we’re happy to help guide you in that direction.