Angela Ray Smith, LPC

A graduate of Newport News High School (Class of ’64), Longwood College (1968), and Western Carolina University (1990 & 1995), I hold a Certificate of Advanced Study, am a National Certified Counselor, and a Licensed Professional Counselor issued by the Virginia Board of Counseling.
   Currently serving as counselor for Capt. John Smith Elementary School where The Nurtured Heart Approach has been implemented, my career in education began in Mecklenburg County, Virginia as a Health and Physical Education teacher at Bluestone Sr. and Jr. High Schools.  After four years of teaching, I spent 20 years in the real estate brokerage business in Clarksville, VA, Hilton Head Island, SC, and Cashiers, NC.  Having moved near Cullowhee, NC, my pursuit of a long-held desire to return to education materialized. I entered graduate school at the age of 42, and completed post-graduated studies in counseling in 1995. My experience in public and private schools, churches, community groups, non-profits, university and community college settings, domestic violence prevention, career and employment counseling, and at-risk youth program development, has provided rich counseling, training, facilitating, and resource development experience.  All of my concentrations have involved empowerment for youth, parents, professionals, and organizations.

Significant Constucts:

The Nurtured Heart Approach (TM) with Howard Glasser, MA; Tom Grove, MA, LMFT;  Susan Zola, Ph.D.; Lisa Bravo, MC, LPC, NCC; Gabrielli LaChiara, LSW, and Susan McLeod.

Trama Resiliency with Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW and Laurie Leitch, Ph.D., co-founders the Trauma Resource Institute, and with Dawn Wadiak, NCC.

The Listening Course & The Possibility of Woman with author, Carol McCall, Ed.D.
Active Parenting with author, Dr. Michael Popkin.
Love and Logic with authors Jim Fay, Foster Cline, MD, and Charles Fay, Ph.D.

Especially for Women...

Contact me to create the right workshop based on the spirit of:

“The Kjerringsleppet” -
35 Norwegian women who "improvised, surprised, and came uninvited" to the opening of the Norway Alpine Center in 1989.   They swooped from the woods to make their presence known when they had been excluded, skied down the mountain with lanterns and clanging cow bells to crash the ceremony.  These “women on the loose” became a fond  symbol of strength and vitality in Norway, so much that they were invited to participate in the opening of the 1994 Olympic Games.

Sue Monk Kidd expresses in Dance of the Dissident Daughter that it is essential for a woman to know her own value, speak her own conscience, and act because she relies on and trusts what is within her. When empowered, she faces challenges as a dissident, if necessary, stating: “I am here now, and I am not going away.” That power may surprise her and the world may gasp at the genius displayed in the resulting effectiveness.

Paraphrased from: Dance of the Dissident Daughter:  A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine, Sue Monk Kidd (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1996), 204-205.


Angie pictured with author, Sue Monk Kidd
Charleston, SC - 2007
Mrs. Kidd also wrote The Secret Life of Bees, a novel of the feminine force, which serves as the catalyst for creating opportunities for empowering women to take their critical place in our world. 

Especially for Educators...

Summer Advanced Training in Champaign, Il - 2009 with my administrators, Dr. Lawrence Myers and Mrs. Tiffany Suggs, and a young co-worker, Erika Chacra. School-wide implementation of The Nurtured Heart Approach produced a more positive climate and better relationships, resulting in fewer disciplinary incidents and greated connectedness.