About Deborah
Deborah Richardson is a licensed clinical social worker with 45 years of practice. She prefers a down-to-earth style and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, ADHD, grief, depression, and life changes. Many clients come for help with parenting strain, relationship concerns, self-esteem, mood challenges, or compassion fatigue.
Her work is straightforward and practical. She uses a mix of approaches - talking things through, learning new skills, and trying small experiments between sessions.
Background and approach
Sessions can include writing, drawing feelings, listening to music, or reading brief stories to open conversation. The aim is to find what helps a person move forward in daily life. Deborah trained at the University of Tennessee and holds the credential Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW.
Over her career she has worked in inpatient and outpatient settings, nursing homes, group homes, prisons, forensic psychiatry, and independent practice. That range shaped a flexible approach that adapts to each person's needs. She favors steady, human connection over jargon.
Deborah pays attention to the small things - remembering birthdays, noticing details, and helping people accept themselves while making practical changes. Her style is warm, direct, and often lightly humorous. Outside the therapeutic room she collects family stories, pets, and music.
Her previous office companion was a small Shih Tzu who loved hearing clients' voices. Deborah intends to support people as they learn to patch the potholes on their road and build practical ways to meet their goals.
Approach-minded care delivered online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match their values. It is useful for anxiety, low mood, and coping with life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns, which can help with anxiety, depression, ADHD-related habits, and impulse control. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns in close relationships and helps people understand how early connections shape current responses and communication.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Deborah will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or has not helped in the past. Together they decide which methods to try and adjust plans as progress is made or needs change.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, offering flexibility for busy days. Video sessions work well for in-depth conversation and nonverbal cues. Phone sessions suit short check-ins or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text messaging allow frequent, brief contact and can be useful for skill practice or quick support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, school, or caregiving schedules.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 45 years
- Licensed
- Tennessee
- Languages
- English
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