Cherrise Smith—School Counselor

Cherrise (she/her) is just starting her first year at PSCS and could not be more excited to join this community. She brings with her training in program management, suicide prevention, trauma informed care, motivational interviewing, and substance use disorder prevention. What drew her to PSCS was the collaboration, small community, warm energy, and the genuine care she felt not just for students but for staff as well.

Cherrise has always known she would serve youth. She has been an after school program manager, cheer coach, student intervention specialist, special education teacher, case manager, and has spent the last 4 years as a counselor. She works hard to build relationships and trust with students, families, and staff members—and wants to learn individual stories, hear their challenges, and celebrate their wins.

Since the pandemic, Cherrise has witnessed first-hand the decrease in mental health amongst teens. The role of a school counselor has never been so vital. She is excited to use her background in program management to help PSCS develop a comprehensive counseling program that is ASCA aligned and serves the needs of all students. By building this program it will ensure that every student in our school has more and more access to support in order to thrive.

Born and raised in Washington, Cherrise spends her free time reading, listening to podcasts, working out, traveling, taking on new home renovation projects, exploring new restaurants, diving into true crime stories, and spending time with loved ones.

When she’s not counseling you can find her serving as a local advocate in her community. She also works with students who have dropped out of school, often due to incarceration, becoming young parents, or struggling from lack of mental health care. She works 1:1 with them to help eliminate barriers and to re-engaged in school and graduate.

Cherrise believes that community, passion, and collaboration are the keys to changing our lives, dismantling systems of oppression, and finding happiness.

Cherrise holds a M.A.Ed with an emphasis in school counseling from Grand Canyon University, and a B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in law and justice, from Central Washington University. Other certificates and trainings include: Project Manager (PM), School Counseling (ESA), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Substance Use Disorder Prevention Trainee (SUDPT), Trauma Informed Care (TIC), Suicide Prevention, and Counseling on Access to Lethal Means.