About
Doug Smith, MSSW is a leadership development trainer, coach, facilitator, and Author of The Path of Rocks and Thorns: Leadership Lessons from a Prison Cell. He has more than 12 years’ experience in mental health and justice policy, as a policy expert at the Texas House of Representative and later as Senior Policy Analyst for Texas Center on Justice and Equity. He has more than eight years’ experience serving as an Adjunct Professor of Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. Doug specializes in developing the leadership capacity of people with life histories of mental illness, past trauma, and incarceration. A foundation of his work is partnering with organizations to create trauma-informed leadership practices. Doug also works with communities across Texas to prevent the arrest and incarceration of people with mental illness. Doug earned his master’s in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from Erickson Coaching International and earned his certification in Trauma-Informed Coaching. Doug also has lived through mental illness, substance use disorder, and incarceration, and these experiences drive his passion to help people achieve their fullest potential. He is a husband and proud father and stepfather of three adult children and three rescue pups.
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“Doug's approach is gentle but firm, and he can gracefully get me to my own conclusions. I appreciate most that he is guiding and facilitating rather than directing and that he helps me to see my own power and hear my own intuition rather than telling me what I should do next. I always feel very supported and respected, like he is meeting me where I am, but also that he is pushing me to be my best and to own both my successes and opportunities for growth.”
—Laura LeBlanc