Tim is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 35 years of experience in the mental health field, including experience in Christian hospital psychology units, group homes, prison chaplaincy, missionary care, assessments, and leadership. Tim earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wheaton College, his master’s degree in counseling from Denver Seminary, and his doctorate in psychology from Grand Canyon University. He did his doctoral dissertation on resilience in cross-cultural workers.

Tim has held several high-level leadership positions in Youth for Christ and Greater Europe Mission, including Director of Juvenile Justice Ministries, Human Resources Director and Vice President of People and Culture. He developed a passion for the intensive approach to therapy when he was using it with missionaries in crisis who would visit his counseling center in Vienna, Austria. He loves hearing people’s stories and feels like it’s a privilege to facilitate a growth process with them.

Tim takes an integrative approach to therapy that is grounded in Interpersonal Neurobiology. What this means is that he believes that we are whole people and that our emotional, physical, spiritual, mental, psychological, and relational selves are all related. Because of this, he seeks evidence-based therapies that involve all parts of our being.

Tim does counseling and intensives through Live Oaks Associates and his consulting firm, Smith & Salter, helps mission organizations improve their quality of missionary care and candidate assessments. He has written the book Create an Environment for Growth to help people proactively grow through the hardships of life and become more resilient. He has also created the role-playing game Transformation to help people learn the skills that lead to resiliency.

Tim and his wife, Deanna, have been married for over 35 years. They have two adult sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Although they have lived in Chicago and Austria, they keep coming back to Colorado because they love living there! They enjoy mountain activities such as hiking, skiing, camping, mountain biking, and reading good books in interesting coffee shops.