Cara Smith, MA, CCLS

Local Program Manager, CLDR Education Coordinator

Cara Smith, MA, CCLS

Cara began her career as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO in 2005. Her clinical experiences spanned the emergency department, urgent child abuse clinic, pediatric intensive care unit, trauma and burn units. She is now a full time clinical instructor at Missouri State University. Cara integrates her trainings in mindfulness, resiliency building, self regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, Trust Based Relational Interventions (TBRI), and yoga (RTY-200) into her clinical practice and trainings. Cara has worked around the globe to advocate for the psychosocial needs of children facing challenging experiences. She is passionate about the healing powers of connection and play in building resiliency.