Biography

Deborah is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has been practicing since 1991. She works with women, men, couples of any sexual orientation, adolescents and families dealing with a wide range of issues and problems. She worked for many years at a community mental health facility where she counseled a diverse group of clients dealing with issues ranging from personal exploration and self empowerment to severe trauma and abuse. She also worked for many years with the East Bay Cancer Support Group providing weekly caregiver and bereavement support groups for teens that had a parent undergoing treatment for cancer or had lost a parent to cancer. Deborah has also had advanced training in the areas of relationship issues, communication techniques, and parenting skills.

Deborah's theoretical orientation is an integration of cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and family systems. Her personal style of therapy is very interactive incorporating compassion, empathy, intuition, and heartfelt concern. She understands that it is important to have a trusting and bonded relationship between client and therapist for therapy to be effective. Deborah provides a safe and confidential environment that promotes healing and empowerment.

It takes an enormous amount of courage to walk through the door of a therapist's office. People do this when they are ready to make changes. Deborah understands this and realizes that we all need help from time to time resolving difficult problems. Sometimes we need effective guidance, another perspective, or just need someone to listen. Deborah has seen hundreds of clients over the years, successfully helping them to find and restore meaning, happiness and fulfillment back into their lives. She has educated couples in improving relationship and communication skills, trained clients in anger and stress management techniques, facilitated conflict resolution, assisted with family and blended family concerns, improved parent/child relationships, and guided many through life transitions.

Deborah is also a cancer survivor. She works with cancer patients and their caregivers. This is very important work to Deborah. It is vital and meaningful for her to support others going through this experience in an effort to give back to the community that supported her through her illness.

Education

• • B.A., Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
• • M.A., Clinical Psychology, Pepperdine University

Professional Certifications

• • CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing)
• • EAP (Employment Assistance Program)

Professional Affiliations

• • CAMFT (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists)
• • EBCAMFT (East Bay Chapter of CAMFT)
• • Cancer Coalition of San Francisco
• • East Bay Bereavement Network
• • Team In Training, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America
• • Psi Chi Honor Society

Organizational Development Services

• • Group Facilitation
• • Training/Educator
• • Mediations