Debra Douwenga

As a licensed marriage and family therapist focusing on trauma informed, client centered psychotherapy approaches, I am here to help you negotiate life’s challenges, stressors and your mental health needs. I have a wide range of practice experience working with individuals who might be struggling with phase of life concerns, work-life balance, grief, anxiety, depression, trauma and many other challenges. I have a Masters Degree from CSU, San Bernardino focusing on clinical counseling and marriage and family therapy. I have attended numerous trainings, workshops, and seminars focusing on a wide variety of client focused practices and mental health needs. I have worked with clients from preschool children and their families, elementary, middle and high schoolers, young adults, maturing adults and our golden generation. I have a strong background in trauma informed practices and use many different modalities of therapy to create an environment where you can feel supported, understood and cared for. I focus on your concerns and needs by helping you gain knowledge, insights and skills that you can use to improve your quality of life and reduce your distress. I am a strength based, whole person-oriented therapist and use examples of real-life situations to improve your therapeutic experience. During our work together, I work to gain your trust by listening to your wants and needs, goals, and experiences to gather information to create a collaborative environment to help reduce your mental health concerns and improve your quality of life. I like to use humor, challenging and thought provoking statements to help you change your perspective, reframe challenging thoughts and reduce unwanted behaviors to help you create life goals and habits to improve the quality of your life experiences. information later