About SPaRC
I'm Dr. Steve Smith, licensed psychologist (PSY20096), and the Sport Psychology and Research Center (SPaRC) is my private practice. I am an associate professor and Director of Clinical Training at UCSB's Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. I also serve as the psychologist for the Division I Department of Athletics at UCSB.
I received my bachelor's degree from Beloit College and my MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology 
from the University of Arkansas. I completed my internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). My background is in general clinical psychology with a particular focus on children and adolescents and psychological and neuropsychological assessment. I joined the faculty of UCSB at 2004 after serving as the Director of Consultation Neuropsychology at MGH in Boston for two years. I have authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and co-edited or co-authored three books. I am a Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment and a former president of the Assessment section of the American Psychological Association's Division 12 (Clinical Psychology). I am currently a member of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and APA's Division 47 (Sport and Exercise Psychology).
In 2009 (after I received tenure!), I began to shift my clinical and research focus to sport and exercise psychology, a field that has interested me for several years. I began to work closely with Division I athletes at UCSB and started to shift my research toward issues of wellness and mental health in high-performing athletes. I launched SPaRC in early 2011 to work with athletes and teams of all ages in the Santa Barbara area. My work with UCSB's Athletics department also continues to grow, and I have worked with athletes from every Division I team on campus (with particular emphasis on golf, swimming, baseball, and men's basketball). I have also worked closely with entire teams and coaching staff.
In addition (and maybe most importantly), I am a competitive athlete myself. As a semipro-level cyclist, I competed in 33 races in 2011 in California and throughout the US.
I race for the Ritte VanVlaanderen cycling team and my nearly 20-hour training week rivals that of the athletes I see at UCSB. If I'm not in the office or sleeping, there's a good chance you'll find me somewhere on Gibraltar road.