Debra Younger (LPC)

Greetings, I am pleased and excited that you have decided to consider me as a possible partner in your journey of discovery, growth, and healing and I look forward to having the opportunity to work with you. My name is Debra Younger. I have the claim to fame of being a 4th generation Californian, though I currently live in the mountains of New Mexico. I have been a professional therapist and Life Coach for 11 years. As a result, I am able to bring a wide breadth of learning and experience to my work. I am also a veteran and have a heart for working with our returning servicemen and women as they struggle to re-integrate back into civilian life from a combat or military environment. On a personal note, my many life experiences, such as being a single parent for 23 years, allow me to truly understand and emphasize with many of the adverse life events my clients have experienced. I have also been in my own personal therapy for 10 years, so I understand what it takes to admit that you’re human, that you can’t always handle what life throws at you, and be courageous enough to seek help. My areas of expertise lie in working with individuals who are struggling to deal with the adverse events they have experienced in their lives; including trauma, all forms of abuse, loss, grief, and attachment issues. My approach to therapy is founded on my belief that my clients are more than the problems that they are experiencing and bring to therapy. It is a holistic approach that sees them as a whole person consisting of mind, body, and spirit intimately intertwined and inseparable. A problem in any one area always affects the others. My preferred modality for counseling is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. This is a therapeutic approach that does not pathologize people, but rather takes a positive attitude toward the client’s issues and sees them as normal reactions to adverse life events, which events can create negative beliefs. These negative beliefs can then interfere with an individual’s ability to form healthy, adult relationships. Learning how to shift these negative beliefs to positive adaptive beliefs can enhance the ability to build healthy relationships. I am very excited about what IFS can offer you and would welcome the opportunity to introduce you to this powerful therapy and how it can help transform your lives.