About Deborah
Deborah Hilyard is a licensed mental health counselor in Florida with 34 years of experience. She completed a graduate degree in counseling at the University of Memphis and has provided services in a variety of settings over three decades. Her work has included career counseling during graduate school and mental health roles in military family centers.
Deborah focuses on practical steps people can take to feel steadier and more in control.
Background and approach
She has experience helping people navigate stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, and relationship strain. She has worked with service members during transitions out of the military and with families facing separations and related challenges. Her background also includes assessments within the foster care system and work with survivors of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.
Deborah uses a warm, interactive style in sessions. She treats people with respect, sensitivity, and compassion, and avoids stigmatizing labels. Sessions are shaped around each person's situation and goals rather than a one-size-fits-all script.
Her approach blends client-centered listening with cognitive behavioral techniques and solution-focused strategies. She also uses EMDR and mindfulness-based tools when they fit the problem being addressed. Motivational interviewing informs how she supports change and goal-setting.
People who want clear options and steady support often connect with her way of working. She emphasizes collaboration and practical steps, whether the focus is on parenting, career tensions, grief, or managing strong emotions. Her long experience gives her familiarity with many concerns people bring to therapy.
How Deborah’s Approaches Work Online
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding the person’s experience. The therapist reflects concerns and helps clients name their goals, which supports clearer next steps and stronger motivation.Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors. It is useful for anxiety, depression, stress, and managing mood shifts by teaching concrete skills to test and change thinking patterns.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is used to reduce the intensity of traumatic memories. It combines focused recall with guided bilateral stimulation and can help people feel less overwhelmed by past events.
Choosing an approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and then suggest what to try first. Plans are adjusted over time based on how well the work is progressing.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging, giving options for different situations. Video is good for a fuller face-to-face feel. Phone works well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and messaging can fit into busy days and help keep momentum between longer sessions. These formats make it easier to arrange therapy around work, caregiving, and other responsibilities.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Anger management
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 34 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English