Deborah Hilyard, LMHC

Deborah Hilyard is a Florida LMHC with 34 years of clinical experience. She earned a graduate degree in counseling from the University of Memphis in 1988 and has spent decades working in varied settings, including military family centers and the foster care system. Deborah helps people with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, relationship and parenting concerns, and many other life challenges.

Early in her career she helped design a transitional program for service members leaving the military and later provided mental health counseling for service members and their families. She has assessed children in foster care and worked with survivors of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. That background underpins her practical approach to common problems like anger, career difficulties, and work-related stress.

Her style centers on listening and a conversational, interactive way of working. Sessions usually focus on clear steps people can try between meetings. She combines client-centered work with cognitive-behavioral techniques, EMDR for trauma-related histories, mindfulness practices, and motivational interviewing when change is a goal.

Deborah frames therapy as a collaborative process. She helps people set realistic goals and chooses methods that fit the concern and the person. For many clients this means learning coping skills, shifting unhelpful thinking patterns, and practicing gentle attention to emotions.

She works with a broad range of issues including addictions, ADHD, grief, intimacy-related concerns, eating and sleeping problems, career and self-esteem issues, and compassion fatigue. Sessions are conducted in English and Deborah practices in Florida as an LMHC.

How Deborah uses talking therapy and targeted methods online