As Featured In

Featured in Her Campus, Michelle Smith explores how haunted houses can affect anxiety, trauma responses, and the nervous system. Discover why experiences that once felt exciting can become overwhelming, how our mental health needs change over time, and what it means to listen to your body, understand your triggers, and make choices that support your well-being.

Travel can create unexpected space to reconnect with ourselves, especially during major life transitions. In this Forbes feature, Michelle Smith, LMHC, explores the idea of the “vacation self” and how stepping outside familiar roles and routines can help us reconnect with joy, identity, and parts of ourselves that may have been pushed aside. For those navigating trauma recovery, that reconnection can be an important part of healing.

Identity is deeply personal, yet many people experience the pain of feeling unseen, misunderstood, or invalidated by others. These experiences can impact self-trust, relationships, and emotional safety. Trauma recovery is not only about healing from past events — it is also about rebuilding connection with yourself and creating a sense of belonging. In this article, I explore identity, belonging, and how trauma-informed therapy can support healing after experiences of rejecti