Nathan Lorenzo Smith, PhD, LCSW, LADC

Nathan L. Smith, PhD, LCSW, LADC (he/him/his) is an early career psychologist, educator, licensed clinical social worker, and licensed alcohol and drug counselor whose work advances health equity in Black communities through clinical care, community-engaged scholarship, and leadership in training and mentorship. He is a Postdoctoral Psychology Fellow at Yale University School of Medicine, where he provides clinical care across Young Adult Services, Child and Adolescent Services, and the Substance Use and Addiction Treatment Unit. He also completed his predoctoral internship in clinical and community psychology at Yale School of Medicines Substance Use and Addiction Treatment Unit and The Consultation Center. He also serves as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Black and Brown Collective Mentorship and Training Program, and is a LEAD Fellow with Division 12 of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Smith earned his PhD and MA in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University, his MSW from Fordham University, a post-graduate certificate in Addiction Counseling, a BA in Social Science from Albertus Magnus College, and an AS in General Studies from Gateway Community College. He has held leadership roles that include Senior Clinical Director within Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services-funded transitional programs in New Haven, and as a clinician at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital with experience across psychiatric emergency and inpatient settings with adolescents, young adults, and adults. He is also as associate faculty in undergraduate and graduate psychology and social work programs.

Clinically, Dr. Smith draws from a multiculturally informed psychodynamic and relational cultural approach to support clients navigating racial trauma, chronic disconnection, grief, identity stress, and the downstream effects of violence exposure. His work is grounded in relational authenticity and emphasizes growth-fostering connections, affect tolerance, and the reclamation of agency and meaning in the context of systemic inequities. He also has a particular clinical interest in attachment theory, especially how early relational experiences, trauma, and social context shape patterns of safety, connection, and coping across the lifespan. His clinical practice spans mood and anxiety concerns, complex trauma presentations, and co-occurring substance use, with a particular commitment to the lived realities of Black boys and men and families impacted by trauma and violence exposure.

Dr. Smith has specialized interests in substance use and addiction treatment, including the integration of harm reduction, motivational approaches, and psychodynamic and relational understandings of use as an adaptation to affect intolerance and unmet needs. His substance use work emphasizes practical strategies for stabilization and safety while supporting clients in building emotional capacity, strengthening relationships, and expanding choice and agency over time

As a qualitative researcher, Dr. Smith’s program of research focuses on social justice, racial trauma, and health disparities affecting marginalized populations, with an emphasis on the health consequences of violence exposure across the lifespan. He continues to publish and present widely, with over 35 presentations across conferences, trainings, and professional platforms focused on Black psychology, trauma, masculinity, and community violence. His dissertation, Let a Brother Be Heard, Fam, explored the lived experiences of Black men ages 18 to 34 exposed to community violence, examining how masculinity can function as both a complicating and protective factor and how men narrate survival, vulnerability, and care in the context of structural inequity. His research on community violence centers Black boys’ and men’s experiences of chronic exposure and its impact on identity development, relational functioning, and coping. It also identifies pathways of resilience, resistance, meaning-making, and Black joy that can inform prevention and intervention. His broader interests include culturally responsive prevention and resiliency-building interventions and alcohol use disorders within Black communities. Separately, his work on sexual violence focuses on male sexual victimization, a critically underrecognized area that carries significant mental health, relational, and substance use implications, and requires culturally responsive prevention and healing-centered responses within Black communities. He is also committed to translating narrative and community expertise into clinically useful frameworks for assessment and treatment.

His leadership and impact have been recognized with the Faculty Impact Award from Post University, and Fielding Graduate University honors including the Breaking Barriers Research Award, the Inclusive Trailblazer Student Award, and the Collective Impact Award with the Black Student Association. He is especially committed to mentoring and sponsoring Black and Brown trainees across psychology, social work, counseling, and related fields, with an emphasis on cultivating sustainable clinical practice, professional identity development, and Black joy as a legitimate outcome of healing.