Get to Know Deb

Deb has the privilege of serving clients from a wide range of backgrounds. She is recognized in the community and sought out for her deeply compassionate care. Committed couples are a particular focus of Deb’s work.

“When couples see me, I hold in my awareness that the client is the relationship. I am always fascinated by getting to know two individuals and how they get together and merge and formed this entity of a relationship. There is a statistic, eighty percent of marriages are status quo, not bad, but sustained. Twenty percent are thriving. The difference is having a growth mindset, a willingness to face one’s self, and change. The things that separate the eighty percent from the twenty, the status quo from the flourishing, are things anyone can learn. That gives me hope. People think that when it gets hard it means it’s not working, but the reality is that is often times when marriage truly begins.”

Deb brings decades of experience supporting families to her work at Living Well. She specializes in supporting parents, and particularly mothers of adult children.

“We have deep dreams for the baby we hold in our arms during the first few hours of life. We are called to be moms to whatever child we have, and to see them as a gift. And to be good stewards to this gift. That is really hard to do if you’ve had trauma, if your child doesn’t meet our expectations, as tough as that is. I have always said my children are my greatest teachers. I have delighted in them and marveled in them, but they have also brought me back to my knees and brought me back to my own healing. I think one of the greatest gifts we can give our children as mothers is to see them clearly and to deal with our own stuff. This can be so hard when you have a child who has dealt with deep dark places, addictions, mental illness, homelessness, incarceration, anything, and to see them with hope. The self-inquiry it takes to find that place of hope can be such a journey. I am here for that.”

An additional area of special interest Deb finds to be especially rewarding is individual counseling for adult men.

“Men tend to mask their feelings, they have been taught they should not have feelings, and that they need to protect people from their feelings. Many men haven’t had the chance to be heard. Everyone deserves to be heard. Everyone deserves to be understood. I feel our culture doesn’t give men the permission. We expect a lot of them without giving them permission to show up with authenticity. I find so much beauty in walking with men as they work to connect their minds to their hearts, and their hearts to their relationships.”