Briana N. Smith, LPC (she/they) is a Licensed Professional Counselor, through Oregon's Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists. Her primary role at the Avel Gordly Center is to provide mental health and substance use treatment to those who are in need through the means of evaluation, diagnosis and evidenced based practices (CBT, DBT, Psychoeducation, etc.). Her orientation is strongly informed by an anti-oppressive, relational-cultural, sex-positive feminist lens, as they believe that to understand another person, one must include the context of culture. She has facilitated psychoeducational groups, with focuses on trauma, mindfulness practice, substance use and CBT/DBT interventions. In addition, she also has experience in facilitating culturally specific groups, which she has done by creating and running an entire 8-week Intensive Outpatient Program for the LGBTIA2S+ community that incorporated elements of common psychoeducational groups but with an emphasis on topics and themes specific to that community. Regarding credentialing, Briana is a member of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and of the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) as a certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor.  As a therapist at OHSU's Avel Gordly Center for Healing, she focuses on providing culturally specific care to underserved populations, but specifically the African American community and the LGBTQIA2S+ community through individual sessions and group therapy. Briana also specializes in working with teen and adults.  Furthermore, she takes pride in helping her respective communities by continuing to challenge the stigmas of mental health by normalizing therapy for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, migration status, acculturation, ability, body size, age, social class or alternative relationship structures.