- Years in practice
- 34
- Credentials
- LMHC
- Licensed in
- Florida
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Trauma and abuse
- Focus
- Anger management
About Deborah
Deborah Hilyard is a licensed mental health counselor with 34 years of experience practicing in Florida. She earned her graduate degree in counseling from the University of Memphis in 1988 and has worked in a range of settings over her career. Deborah has supported people facing stress, anxiety, mood struggles, and life changes.
She often helps those dealing with trauma, grief, parenting challenges, and relationship strain. Her career has included work in military family centers where she developed transitional programs and offered counseling to service members.
Background and approach
She has also conducted comprehensive assessments in the foster care system and provided care to people affected by emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Those roles shaped how she works with people who feel overwhelmed by loss, separation, or uncertainty. Deborah describes her style as warm and interactive.
She treats people with respect, sensitivity, and compassion and avoids stigmatizing labels. Sessions are collaborative and geared toward practical change rather than jargon or one-size-fits-all plans. She uses a mix of client-centered methods, cognitive behavioral techniques, EMDR, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing to match the needs of each person.
Deborah tailors conversations and treatment plans to the individual rather than following a fixed script. If someone is ready to make a change, she aims to support and empower them through steady, focused work. Her long experience includes helping with parenting concerns, career stress, addiction, compassion fatigue, ADHD, and many other difficulties.
What Deborah works with
Everything Deborah lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Deborah helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Anger management
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Deborah lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
Approaches that translate to online therapy
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to a person, helping them set goals and steer conversations at their own pace. It can be useful for people seeking support with parenting challenges, relationship strain, or general life stress.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviors connect and then builds practical skills to change unhelpful patterns. It is commonly used for anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, and coping with big life changes.
EMDR is an approach used with trauma that involves guided processing to reduce the lasting impact of traumatic memories. It is often chosen by people who have experienced abuse, disaster, or other deeply distressing events.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Deborah will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped in the past, and then adapt methods that seem most useful. That way the plan evolves from real needs rather than theory.
Online sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video lets you keep visual connection for deeper conversations. Phone sessions can be a good fit when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging can help people keep momentum between sessions or get support without scheduling a full call. These options make it easier to fit counseling into busy family and work schedules.
Questions people ask about Deborah
What concerns does Deborah commonly address?
She helps people with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, anger, grief, addictions, parenting concerns, relationship and intimacy issues, and a wide range of related struggles.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is warm and interactive, focusing on respectful, nonjudgmental conversations that aim for practical change and problem solving.
How much experience does she bring?
Deborah has 34 years of counseling experience, including work with military family centers, foster care assessments, and clients impacted by abuse and trauma.
What credentials and location are listed?
She is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) practicing in Florida.
Which languages are offered and can she see clients abroad?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not currently accepting international clients.
What session formats does she use?
She works via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the steps to begin working with her?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions based on the therapist's availability.
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