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LCSW

Deborah Richardson, LCSW

  • Experience45 years
  • LocationTennessee
  • Focus areasADHD, Stress and Anxiety, and Trauma and abuse
  • Therapy approachesAcceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Attachment-Based Therapy
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About Deborah

Deborah Richardson, LCSW, brings a compassionate, client-centered approach shaped by 45 years of clinical work. She emphasizes practical, acceptance-oriented strategies alongside cognitive and emotion-focused methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, mood disorders, trauma, and ADHD-related challenges.

Background and approach

Deborah frames therapy as a collaborative journey, blending evidence-based techniques with creativity to address depression, grief, parenting concerns, relationship and family issues, and compassion fatigue. Her career includes inpatient and outpatient settings, nursing home and group-home care, prison work, fifteen years in forensic psychiatry, and more than two decades in independent practice.

This wide-ranging background informs a flexible style that adapts interventions to each person's needs, whether using ACT to clarify values, CBT to shift unhelpful thoughts, DBT skills for emotional regulation, or attachment-based ideas to strengthen relationships. Deborah's Tennessee base and LCSW credential (TN LCSW 3405) reflect decades of formal training and practice.

Clients can expect an approachable clinician who values plain language, real-world problem solving, and small personal details that matter. Deborah combines warmth and humor with professional depth, helping people build practical tools for coping with life changes, impulsivity, bipolar concerns, multicultural issues, aging and end-of-life topics, and a wide range of other struggles.

Integrating therapeutic approaches with flexible online care



Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and build actions that align with those values while learning to live with difficult thoughts and feelings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and mood instability. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides practical skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, useful for impulsivity and intense emotional reactions.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Deborah takes a collaborative stance, exploring a client's goals, preferences, and life circumstances to tailor techniques and adjust methods over time so the therapy fits the person rather than the other way around.

Online sessions make this flexibility practical through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These formats allow continuity of care across locations and schedules, offer different ways to engage with therapeutic exercises, and give clients options to use the mode that best supports their comfort and daily life.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of concerns does Deborah address?
She works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, coping with life changes, ADHD, relationship and family problems, grief, parenting, self esteem, bipolar disorder, and compassion fatigue among other issues.
What is Deborah's therapeutic style?
Her style is collaborative and client-centered, blending Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, DBT skills, attachment work, and emotionally focused techniques to fit each person's needs.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She brings 45 years of experience across inpatient and outpatient settings, nursing homes, group homes, prison work, forensic psychiatry, and long-term independent practice.
What are her credentials and practice location?
She holds the LCSW credential with licence TN LCSW 3405 and is based in Tennessee.
Does she work with international clients or in other languages?
She conducts therapy in English and accepts international clients.
Which session formats are available?
Sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to accommodate different preferences.
How are costs handled for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What steps are involved in getting started?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.

Areas of expertise

Primary focus

Stress, AnxietyTrauma and abuseDepressionCoping with life changesADHD

Also works with

Relationship issuesFamily conflictsGriefParenting issuesSelf esteemBipolar disorderCompassion fatigue

Additional focus areas

AbandonmentAging and geriatric issuesAttachment issuesAutism and Asperger SyndromeBlended family issuesCommitment issuesCommunication problemsDependent personalityFamily problemsHospice and end-of-life counselingImpulsivityMen's issuesVeteran and Armed Forces IssuesMood disordersMulticultural concernsObsessions, compulsions, and OCDPanic disorder and panic attacksPhobiasPost-traumatic stressSocial anxiety and phobiaWomen's issuesYoung adult issues

Therapeutic approaches

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)Attachment-Based TherapyClient-Centered TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)Gottman MethodMindfulness TherapyPsychodynamic TherapySolution-Focused TherapyTrauma-Focused Therapy

Experience

45+ years

Licensed

Tennessee

Languages

English