Compassionate, experienced, and focused on connection.

Experience & approach

Practical skills meet genuine care.

Deborah’s compassionate approach, extensive knowledge, and practical skills have guided many couples toward deeper understanding, improved communication, and renewed connection.

Using the Developmental Model for Couples, Deborah coaches and supports couples to increase their differentiation, enabling their connection with each other while staying true to themselves. She does this by building each partner's self-differentiation—identifying and sharing thoughts, feelings, and desires with their partner—and their other-differentiation—managing their reactions to their partner and being curious about their partner's perspective and experience. Using thoughtful exercises and tools, she encourages direct and honest communication to work through moments of tension, strengthening emotional connection and partnership.

Deborah brings the same compassionate, practical approach to sex therapy, creating a welcoming space to explore concerns about desire, intimacy, and sexual connection. She helps partners talk openly about their needs, navigate differences with greater understanding, and develop a more fulfilling intimate relationship. Her work emphasizes comfort, consent, and connection, with respect for each person’s experiences and pace.

Her expertise is continually refined through participation in the Advanced Training Program of the Developmental Model at The Couples Institute, founded by renowned relationship experts Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson and Level 2 in Assessing and Treating Sex Issues in Psychotherapy at The Institute for Relational Intimacy, founded by Martha Kauppi.

Deborah is married and has two teenage children.