Cait Schmitz, MSW, LICSW

If you’ve spent any time looking for a therapist, you’ve probably read a lot of the same things: warm, nonjudgmental, here to listen. And while all of that is true of me, what I really want you to know is what it actually feels like to work together. This is a shared space. It’s not a friendship, but it’s also not a place where I sit across from you with all the answers and tell you what’s happening. I’ll bring my clinical judgment, my honesty, and twelve+ years of experience. You’ll bring everything you know about your own life. Together, we figure it out. My job is to help you understand what’s happening, make sense of where it comes from, and move in the direction you actually want to go. I’ve also built my practice by design. I intentionally see a small number of clients each week because I don’t want to overbook myself or create a practice where you’re moving through a revolving door of appointments. This work is unhurried. It’s personal. And it isn’t built around a template. That means I have the space to actually pay attention to you to notice what’s happening, follow what’s important, and respond to what you need rather than trying to fit you into a predetermined way of doing therapy. Sometimes that work happens in my office. Sometimes it doesn’t. If something keeps feeling stuck, I want to understand where it actually lives. Maybe that means taking a walk together. Maybe it means meeting you in an environment that has been difficult to navigate. The point isn’t to make therapy unconventional for the sake of being unconventional. It’s that sometimes the most meaningful work happens when we step outside the room and into real life. That’s part of what I mean when I call my practice boutique. It’s not about being fancy. It’s about being intentional: with my time, my attention, and the way I care for the people who trust me with their stories. I work with people carrying real things. Trauma is one of my specialties, and what that actually means is that I sit with people who are trying to make sense of experiences that left a mark. Sometimes that’s something that happened once. Sometimes it’s something that shaped the way you learned to move through the world. Either way, we work toward helping you feel less defined by what happened to you and more connected to who you are now. I also believe healing happens in the body as much as it does in the mind. We can understand something intellectually and still find ourselves reacting as if it’s happening all over again. So we don’t just talk about what happened. We pay attention to what your body has been holding onto, too. I use approaches like EMDR, IFS, and Accelerated Resolution Therapy to help people work with those deeper patterns and experiences. And honestly, I’m a little obsessed with this work. I’m constantly listening to podcasts, digging into research, and following the people pushing the field forward. Curiosity is just how I’m wired. I’m currently pursuing advanced training in functional medicine and emerging trauma modalities, and I’m genuinely excited about where this work is heading and what that can mean for the people I work with. That curiosity doesn’t stop when I leave the office. I’m a mom; I’m navigating life just like you are, and I’ve been through my own things too. I know firsthand how meaningful it can be to sit with someone who actually gets it—someone who is curious about you, not judging you, and genuinely wants to understand. I also believe that being a whole person matters. I love good TV (right now I’m watching Ted Lasso), food, restaurants, and trying new things. And in a plot twist I never saw coming, I’ve become a runner later in life. I mention that because I’ve become genuinely passionate about what it means to move your body and how profoundly that can affect your mental health and your whole system. It’s something I talk about with my clients, but it’s also something I live. At the end of the day, I don’t believe you need another person telling you who you should be. I think you need someone willing to get curious with you, tell you the truth when it matters, understand the things you’ve been carrying, and help you figure out what comes next. If something brought you here, I’m glad it did. Reach out, and let’s figure out if we’re a good fit.