About Deborah
Dr. Deborah Gioia-Hasick uses a blend of client-centered work, cognitive behavioral tools, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing to help people manage hard moments. She brings plain language and practical steps to sessions so people can try small changes between meetings.
Her approach is calm, steady, and focused on what someone wants to get back on track. She began clinical training decades ago and holds a Master of Social Work and a Doctor of Philosophy.
Background and approach
She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker - LCSW - and also holds an LCSW-C credential. Over 37 years she has worked across clinical and teaching roles in California settings. Early in her career she spent many years supporting young adults with serious mental illness and their supports.
That work included running groups, multi-family meetings, and teaching symptom-management and communication skills. Those experiences shaped how she thinks about practical supports and team-based care. She has additional training in sexual health and sex therapy and has provided couples counseling through that program.
She also teaches Master’s and PhD students, leading clinical courses that emphasize hands-on methods such as CBT, DBT, and mindfulness-based stress reduction. More recently she has focused on climate-related trauma and resiliency and welcomes conversations about the effects of environmental crises on daily life. She pays attention to vocational identity and helps young adults and others clarify goals for work and purpose.
Sessions aim to combine motivation, skill-building, and present-moment awareness so people can move toward clearer decisions and better day-to-day coping.
How therapeutic methods translate to online care
Client-centered therapy emphasizes listening and collaboration. In online sessions that means the therapist focuses on what matters most to the person and adapts the pace and tasks to fit their life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches concrete skills to change patterns; it works well in video or phone sessions where homework and worksheets can be reviewed together. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skills; this approach helps people manage intense feelings and can be practiced through live sessions and written check-ins.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, preferences, and past experiences and then suggest methods to try. Decisions are collaborative and may shift over time to match changing needs.
Online formats offer practical benefits. Video calls let people see facial cues and share materials. Phone sessions can fit into a busy workday or require less bandwidth. Live chat and text messaging provide shorter check-ins, ongoing encouragement, and a way to journal between meetings. These options increase flexibility so therapy can fit into daily routines and support steady progress.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Eating disorders
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 37 years
- Licensed
- Maryland, California
- Languages
- English