Joanne Deal

Counseling is a process of working through issues that are interfering with you living a full life. In the process of doing this, there is a tremendous level of growth on many levels: emotional, relational, spiritual, existential, even physical. Counseling may at times address very difficult situations, including addressing difficult or painful experiences from your developmental years which are currently impacting you and your relationships. As a Master’s-level Licensed Professional Counselor in Connecticut, I work with my clients to explore the factors which have led them to pursue counseling: we collaborate to determine our priorities. Recognizing that real change requires more than an hour per week, clients may be assigned homework to complete between sessions, or may be encouraged to read an article or book on a particular subject pertaining to the issues being addressed; we will discuss the homework at the next session as well as suggestions for applying the material to your life. I won’t sugar-coat it: changing how you respond to people or other triggers takes real work and a willingness to change. Areas in which I specialize include Anxiety and Depression; Loss, Bereavement, and Grief; Marital and Parenting Issues; and Asperger’s/High-Functioning Autism. I am also experienced in working with clients who have issues with Anger Management, Life Changes (Chronic Illness, Aging Issues, Employment or Economic Changes), Communication and Conflict Resolution (including Couples Counseling), Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Equipping Parents to work effectively with their children with AS/HFA, Trauma-Informed Counseling, Family-of-Origin issues, Blended Families, and Home Schooling Families. My approach to counseling is “eclectic,” meaning that I approach different issues in different ways. Approaches that I draw upon include Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Existential Therapy, Gottman Method, Mindfulness Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Trauma-Focused Therapy. I am very comfortable working with those who have strong ties to their faith and/or ethnic/cultural background. I have been told that I approach my counseling almost more as a marriage and family therapist, as I view clients not as isolated entities, but as people who are influenced strongly by their families and others around them, and who in turn influence those very individuals as well. As an undergraduate I graduated with my A.A. from a community college in southern California with high academic honors. Then I transferred to the University of Southern California, with a double major in Communication Theory and Public Relations. My B.A was earned with highest academic honors (summa cum laude), and I was inducted into the academic honor societies Phi Beta Kappa (liberal arts and sciences) and Phi Kappa Phi (all-university). I completed my M.A. in Professional Counseling at Liberty University with high academic honors. In addition to being licensed by the state of Connecticut, I am also a Nationally Certified Counselor. A member of the American Counseling Association and the American Association of Christian Counselors, my mission as a Licensed Professional Counselor is to treat each client with respect, to walk alongside as you work through issues that are troubling you, and to be a part of the process of healing and reconciliation. I look forward to working with you!