About Debra
Debra Gionet is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship concerns, parenting strain, and career questions. She offers calm, steady support for those wrestling with self-esteem, life changes, or parenting challenges. Her style is direct and empathetic so clients feel heard and guided toward workable steps.
She draws on 25 years of practice in California and brings practical problem-solving to everyday struggles. Sessions focus on skills clients can use between meetings, such as clearer communication, better coping tools, and realistic goal-setting.
Background and approach
Debra adapts her approach to match each person’s needs and priorities. Her work also pays attention to attachment patterns, body image, codependency, and family of origin issues. She helps people who are navigating fertility concerns, pregnancy and childbirth experiences, and women’s issues.
Young adults and those rethinking life purpose or workplace roles will find concrete, experience-based support. Debra uses a mix of therapy approaches that include acceptance-based strategies, cognitive tools, psychodynamic insight, and trauma-focused techniques when appropriate. She is comfortable including a Christian-informed perspective when requested, and also works with people from agnostic and other faith backgrounds.
Sessions aim to strengthen communication, reduce unhelpful patterns, and build emotional resilience. People leave with clear next steps tailored to their situation and a sense of forward movement.
Therapeutic approaches you can use online
Debra often combines Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and emotions without getting stuck in them, while guiding them to act in ways that fit their values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on changing unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning.She also draws on psychodynamic ideas when helpful, looking at long-standing patterns and relationships that shape current feelings and choices. Together the therapist and client decide which approach, or mix of approaches, fits best based on the person’s goals and what feels most useful. This is presented as a collaborative process where adjustments are made as therapy progresses.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video is useful for deeper conversations and visual cues, phone works well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed, and chat or text messaging can support quick updates and ongoing reflection between sessions. These options help people fit therapy into work, parenting, or other daily routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Parenting issues
Also works with
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Eating and food-related issues
- Family of origin issues
- Fertility issues
- Life purpose
- Narcissism
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self esteem
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English