Dr. Ray Wm. Smith, Ed.D. - Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Counseling for Individuals, Couples, Families and Groups; Christian Counseling for Spokane Washington

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More About Dr. Ray

I was raised in a wonderful suburb of Kansas City, with model schools and a warm Christian family. Summers and school holidays I spent with my mother's family on their farms in north central Missouri, riding ponies, whistling and whittling, and driving tractors and trucks.

My older brother went to college at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, so I did, too. He joined a fraternity, so I joined it, too, and later became President. I had been active in school government in high school, and participated in college in the student senate. The best perk was getting to judge homecoming queens, and the hardest duty was taking a stand against mandatory ROTC during the Viet Nam war.

During my junior year of college, I felt called to give my life to full time Christian service, and went before the elders of my home church, then the Presbytery (the governing body of Presbyterian churches in the Kansas City metropolitan area). After graduation, I went to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. I got married my first year, interned in Houston and Galveston, did youth ministry in Austin and San Antonio, and graduated with a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry in 1978.

I was ordained as the pastor of the Grace Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, which was well named, since most of the members were the age of my grandparents, and they showed a young leader God's grace. While there, our daughter was born. After three years, I was called to be the pastor of the Shady Grove Presbyterian Church in east Memphis, where our two sons were born.

While there I returned to graduate school at Memphis University studying counseling, so I could learn how to help people in my congregation who sought pastoral counseling. I graduated with my doctorate in counseling in 1985, and then became the Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care and Counseling at First Presbyterian Church, Spokane. I started the Christian Counseling Center part time in my home, and in 1990, went into private practice full time in the Christian Gift Center on Francis and Addison. In January, 2000, I joined a group of psychotherapists at 9507 N. Division Street. I have served five times as a part time interim pastor in congregations between installed pastors. I am an adjunct professor at Whitworth College in the graduate school for counselors.

From Texas, I was licensed as a Professional Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist. As the laws changed in Washington, I was a Registered, then Certified, and now, Licensed Mental Health Counselor. I am a National Board Certified Counselor.