Deborah Richardson, LMFT

Deborah Richardson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practising in Virginia with 38 years of experience. She works with people dealing with trauma, grief, depression, anxiety, codependency, and life changes. Her practice also addresses burnout from caregiving, addictions, mood disorders, parenting stresses, and relationship and family concerns.

Deborah frames therapy as a straightforward, honest conversation. She says people can’t control others but can change their own responses. Sessions focus on clear questions, practical reflection, and moving toward more manageable ways of coping and relating.

Her work draws on client-centered methods that prioritize the person’s experience. She also uses techniques from dialectical behavior therapy to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance. For trauma and painful memories she integrates EMDR approaches to reduce the hold of past events.

Deborah brings years of hands-on experience with people facing loss, abandonment, blended-family stress, and life transitions such as divorce or postpartum changes. She helps people notice patterns like people-pleasing, difficulty saying no, or living around others’ moods, and then practice different responses.

Practical steps are common in sessions. She uses motivational interviewing to clarify goals and solution-focused tools to try small, testable changes. The work is collaborative and paced to what each person can handle.

Sessions are conducted in English and are based in Virginia. People interested in starting are asked to complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule an initial appointment through the online therapy options button.

How Deborah’s approaches work in online sessions