Olga Smoliak

About

I am a Professor in FRHD. I am also a clinical/counselling psychologist and family therapist and approved supervisor. My research is dedicated to advancing critical and discursive perspectives and inquiry (social constructionist, poststructuralist, and feminist) within psychotherapy and family therapy.

I aim to broaden the scope of counselling professions, traditionally centered on individuals or immediate families, by shedding light on broader structural influences. Simultaneously, I challenge the notion of therapy as apolitical, emphasizing its role in perpetuating societal inequalities or reinforcing prevailing societal discourses of normalcy, kinship, and gender. I also explore ways to leverage therapy as catalyst for social change.

Research Interests

My research program centers on three areas:

1. Postmodern, collaborative therapy practices
2. Social justice issues in counselling
3. Therapy as discourse or social interaction

Postmodern, Collaborative Therapy Practice. I study postmodern and collaborative therapies, including narrative, solution-focused, collaborative-dialogic, open dialogue, and reflecting teams. I have provided valuable insights into the premises and practices of postmodern therapies, emphasizing reflexivity and collaboration in therapeutic practice and centering client voice in therapy.

Social Justice Issues in Counselling. As a scholar, I examine how broader structural influences and systems of oppression shape and constrain people's experiences, relationships, and well-being. Central to my research is a commitment to advancing gender equality and empowering women within both familial and societal contexts. I explore how therapists can recognize and navigate gender-based discourses and power dynamics. Drawing upon insights from poststructuralist, feminist, new materialist, and other critical perspectives, along with macro-oriented discursive methodologies like Foucauldian and feminist discourse analysis, I address gendered power in therapy.

Therapy as Discourse. I also explore therapy as a discourse or dialogue, thus studying it at a micro-analytical level as an unfolding social interaction. Using discourse analysis and conversation analysis, I have sought to elucidate how therapeutic interactions unfold sequentially and collaboratively between therapists and clients. My goal has been to advance the status of discursive inquiry in counselling and psychotherapy by showing its utility across diverse contexts. My research delves into various facets of therapeutic interaction, including therapeutic questions, advice-giving, blame and accountability in couple and family therapy, and specific therapeutic practices (e.g., chair work in emotion-focused therapy, optimistic inquiry in solution-focused therapy).

Education

PhD (Counseling Psychology) - University of Calgary, 2008

Select Publications

Smoliak, O., Tseliou, E., Strong, T., Bava, S., & Muntigl, P. (Eds.). (2026). The Routledge international handbook of postmodern therapies. Routledge.

Smoliak, O., Rice, C., Rudder, D., Tseliou, E., LaMarre, A., LeCouteur, A., ... & Henshaw, S. (2025). Emotion regulation as affective neoliberal governmentality. Family Process, 64(1), e13064.

Jeffrey, N. K., Rice, C., & Smoliak, O. (2024). Looking back and looking forward: Men and masculinity in psychological research on violence against women. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 25(4), 418-437.

Smoliak, O., Dechamplain, B., Elliott, R., Rice, C., LeCouteur, A., Tseliou, E., & Davies, A. (2023). Partner empathy in couple therapy: A discovery-phase task analytic study. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000244

Smoliak, O., *Al-Ali, K., LeCouteur, A., Tseliou, E., Rice, C., LaMarre, A., Davies, A., *Uguccioni, B., *Stirling, L., *Dechamplain, B., & *Henshaw, S. (2023). The third shift: Addressing emotion work in couple therapy. Family Process. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12906

Elliott, R., Bohart, A., Larson, D., Muntigl, P., & Smoliak, O. (2023). Empathic reflection. In C. Hill & J. Norcross (Eds.), Psychotherapy skills and methods that work. Oxford University Press.

Lester, J., O’Reilly, M., Smoliak, O., Muntigl, P., & Tseliou, E. (2023). Soliciting children’s views on circular questioning in child mental health assessments. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28(2), 554-566.

Smoliak, O., LaMarre, A., Rice, C., Tseliou, E., LeCouteur, A., *Myers, M., *Vesely, L., *Briscoe, C., *Addison, M., & *Velikonja, L. (2022). The politics of vulnerable masculinity in couple therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 48(2), 427-446.

Smoliak, O., Rice, C., LaMarre, A., Tseliou, E., LeCouteur, A., & Davies, A. (2022). Gendering of care and care inequalities in couple therapy. Family Process, 61(4), 1386-1402.

Smoliak, O., Rice, C., Knudson-Martin, C., *Briscoe, C., LeCouteur, A., LaMarre, A., Tseliou, E., *Velikonja, L., *Myers, M., *Addison, M., & *Vesely, L. (2022). Denials of responsibility in couple therapy. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 21(4), 344-365.

Smoliak, O., MacMartin, C., Hepburn, A., Le Couteur, A., Elliott, R., & *Quinn‐Nilas, C. (2022). Authority in therapeutic interaction: A conversation analytic study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 48(4), 961-981.

Smoliak, O., Couture, S., Gaete Silva, J., Rogers-de Jong, M., Sametband, I., & LaMarre, A. (2021). Exploring the practical potential of discursive research in family therapy. In M. O'Reilly & J. Lester (Eds.), Improving communication in mental health settings: Evidence-based recommendations from practitioner-led research (pp. 36-53). New York: Routledge.

LaMarre, A., Smoliak, O., Cool, C., Kinavey, H., & Hardt, L. (2019). The normal, improving, and productive self: Unpacking neoliberal governmentality in therapeutic interactions. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 32(3), 236-253.

Smoliak, O., & Strong, T. (Ed.). (2018). Therapy as discourse: Research and practice. London: Palgrave/MacMillan.

Gaete, J., Smoliak, O., Couture, S., & Strong, T. (2018). DSM diagnosis and social justice: Inviting counsellor reflexivity. In C. Audet & D. Paré (Eds.), Social justice and counseling: Discourse in practice. New York: Routledge.

Sutherland (Smoliak), O., LaMarre, A., Rice, C., Hardt, L., & LeCouteur, A. (2017). New sexism in couple therapy: A discursive analysis. Family Process, 56(3), 686–700.

Sutherland (Smoliak), O., LaMarre, A., Rice, C., Hardt, L., & Jeffrey, N. (2016). Gendered patterns of interaction: A Foucauldian discourse analysis of couple therapy. Contemporary Family Therapy, 38(4), 385-399.

Sutherland (Smoliak), O., Peräkylä, A., & Elliott, R. (2014). Conversation analysis of the two-chair self-soothing task. Psychotherapy Research, 24(6), 738-751.

Sutherland (Smoliak), O., & Strong, T. (2011). Therapeutic collaboration: A conversation analysis of constructionist therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 256-278.

Sutherland (Smoliak), O. (2007). Therapist positioning and power in discursive therapies: A comparative analysis. Contemporary Family Therapy, 29, 193-209.