Shannon D. Smith

Trainer. Creator. Decision Science Practitioner. Founder of Get Untrapped™ and Untrapped Health & Wealth.

The Story Behind Get Untrapped™

“How I learned to stop surviving my life — and start choosing it.”

The Turning Point

I didn’t build this work from theory — I built it from survival.
For years, I made decisions to keep the peace, protect my image, and meet everyone’s expectations but my own. I said yes when I meant no. I stayed in a marriage that hollowed me out. I stayed in roles that looked responsible but felt lifeless.

The truth was simple but hard to face: I didn’t trust myself to choose differently. Everything changed the day I decided that “fine” wasn’t enough.


I left the marriage, rebuilt my life as a single mother, and started asking harder questions — not “What’s next?” but “What’s right for me?”

That question cracked something open — and it’s the same question I now help others ask.

The Rebuild

I started over — financially, emotionally, and professionally.
I took unpaid internships, worked nights, and studied human behavior every chance I got.


Eventually, I built a career helping others do what I had to learn the hard way: reclaim their voice, restore their confidence, and rebuild their trust in their own decisions.

Today, my work lives at the intersection of psychology, learning, and financial well-being.


I teach people how to recognize the traps that keep them stuck — and how to move through them with clarity and courage.

Because once you stop living to survive, you start choosing to thrive.


And that choice changes everything.

Professional Snapshot

Current Work

  • Senior Staff Development Trainer

  • Licensed Insurance Broker, Untrapped Health & Wealth

  • Creator of Get Untrapped™

Expertise

  • Decision-Making Psychology

  • Instructional Design & Adult Learning

  • Emotional Intelligence & Behavioral Change

  • Financial Literacy & Protection Planning

Credentials

  • M.S. Instructional Design

  • M.S. Industrial-Organizational Psychology

  • Licensed Life & Health Insurance Broker (Virginia)

  • Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD)

Speaking Topics

  • From Survival Mode to Self-Trust

  • The Psychology of Decision-Making

  • How to Lead Without Losing Yourself

  • Financial Peace as a Form of Freedom

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