Doctoral student who honored himself to help victims of crime

Donterio Smith's The appointment as a licensed therapist as part of the early therapeutic intervention initiative has provided a lot of relief from criminal victims and the public prosecutor's office in Georgia.

In fact, Smith, who learns the TrailBlazing Award 2025 at DA's Office First Empyee Appreciation Gala, learned the TrailBlazing Award 2025 at the College of Doctoral Studies' Canyon Emerging scholarship at Grand Canyon University.

Smith, a licensed professional consultant and certified professional consultant supervisor, was honored for his “innovative efforts, style and approach to providing an urgently needed service for individuals within the judiciary”.

Smith said that he was very proud to integrate the support of mental health for victims of crime, “because these victims often have to go to several places to maintain services, but to be able to maintain this service in his own house, makes the difference from the point of view of accessibility.”

The initiative for early therapeutic intervention was started in February 2024 by the district prosecutor Anita B. Howard. This was the first DA office in Georgia to contain a licensed therapist for his team, which offers the victims affected by crime extremely important for mental health.

Before the appointment of Smith, victims who were looking for help were transferred to a community provider, but often had to wait three to five weeks.

“As soon as you say that you want therapy, you sometimes see me on the same day,” said Smith. “You identify that you want therapy and I bring the gap until you see the community provider for the first time.”

Smith's efforts help the victims, mainly young people, at the same time the emotional costs of trauma when starting the healing process. He reported that community providers have found a high increase in the participant rate because they are more comfortable with the process.

“They understand what it looks like, and so that the fear of the idea of ​​participating in the therapy has been reduced, because as I already said, the circuit is in a very urban area and that a large part of the population is black people, and is often the first thought of not going for mental health,” said Smith. “It's not your first thought, honest.”

Smith said he decided to pursue a doctorate at the GCU on the advice of a colleague.

“When I started the program, I thought:” This is a great program, “said Smith.” When I thought about getting my doctorate, I had no question that went somewhere else outside of Grand Canyon. “

Mark Gonzales, senior author of GCU News [email protected]

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