- Guilt and shame
- DBT skills
- EMDR elements
About Deborah
Deborah Richardson is a Virginia Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with 38 years of experience. She works with people facing grief, depression, trauma and abuse, anxiety, stress, relationship struggles, addictions, and issues like guilt and shame. Deborah also supports those dealing with parenting challenges, caregiver strain, mood disorders, ADHD, and life transitions.
She speaks plainly and focuses on honest conversation. Sessions are a place to ask direct questions and to look at reactions to others and to events. Deborah sees therapy as a practical relationship rather than a quick fix. She helps clients notice patterns and consider different responses to old problems.
Her approach uses client-centered work alongside techniques from DBT and EMDR when appropriate. Motivational interviewing and solution-focused methods also appear in sessions to help people set clear, manageable goals. Deborah aims to match methods to the person and the issue at hand rather than force a single model.
In practice she encourages people to identify small, concrete steps they can try between meetings. Conversations often cover communication skills, setting boundaries, and managing strong emotions. For those wrestling with guilt or shame, she supports exploring the origins of those feelings and how they affect daily life.
Deborah draws on decades of clinical experience to help people sort complex problems into workable pieces. She talks frankly about limits and possibilities and helps clients decide what change could look like in their own lives.
How Deborah’s approaches translate to remote sessions
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and on the client’s perspective. The therapist reflects what she hears and helps people make sense of their feelings and choices, which can be useful for grief, guilt, and relationship concerns.Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) includes skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and improved communication. These skills offer practical tools to manage intense feelings and can be practiced between sessions to handle spikes of shame or anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) addresses distress tied to difficult memories by guiding attention while revisiting those memories. It is often used for trauma and post-traumatic stress and may be discussed when past events fuel present guilt or fear.
Choosing an approach is collaborative. Deborah will talk through goals, preferences, and how symptoms show up, then suggest methods to try. If a technique seems unhelpful, she adjusts the plan so the work stays focused on what the person wants to change.
Session formats are not listed in the biography, so confirm the available options before booking. In general, remote work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time. These practical benefits help keep therapy manageable while the therapist and client decide which methods to use.
Areas of expertise
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
38+ years
Listed in
Virginia
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of issues does she address?
Deborah works with trauma and abuse, grief, depression, anxiety, stress, addictions, relationship and family concerns, parenting strain, and specific issues like guilt and shame.
How would she approach feelings of guilt or shame?
She uses honest conversation to trace where those feelings come from and how they affect behavior. Techniques from DBT and EMDR may be used to help process painful memories and regulate emotions.
What experience does she bring to sessions?
She has 38 years of experience in the counseling field and draws on that background to break complex problems into practical steps.
What are her credentials and location?
She is an LMFT licensed in Virginia and works with adults in that state.
Can I work with her if I live outside the US?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not currently accepting international clients.
What session formats are available?
Please confirm current session options before booking, as formats are not specified in the biography.
How does pricing work?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Click the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.