Deborah Gleason, LICSW, LCSW
Somatic-informed therapist focused on connection and coping
About Deborah
Deborah Gleason is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who offers compassionate, down-to-earth support for people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, identity questions, and life transitions. She frames therapy as a collaborative process and invites clients to notice how their bodies hold experience as well as thoughts.
Sessions emphasize slowing down, curiosity, and building internal connection. Deborah draws on somatic-informed work alongside conversation-based therapies to address patterns that no longer help.
Background and approach
She uses somatic awareness, grounding, nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and movement when those approaches fit the client’s needs. Practical tools and coping strategies are shared so people can use them between meetings. Her style is warm, compassionate, and nonjudgmental.
Deborah helps people name unhelpful beliefs and protective reactions and then practices alternative ways of responding. She also welcomes attention to spiritual or meaning-making concerns when clients find that useful. Her experience includes supporting people with anxiety, trauma and abuse, relationship challenges, LGBTQ+ related issues, self-esteem, and major life changes.
She has worked in group home settings with adolescents, focusing on emotional awareness and building self-worth. Deborah encourages people to begin even without having everything figured out. The work is paced to each person, with room for exploration, practical skills, and developing a steadier relationship with emotions and bodily experience.
How somatic and talk therapies work online
Deborah uses somatic-informed care and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy alongside client-centered work to help people feel steadier and more connected to themselves. Somatic approaches invite simple attention to bodily sensations, movement, and grounding to help process stress and trauma. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify values, accept difficult thoughts, and take committed action toward meaningful goals. Client-centered methods emphasize listening, empathy, and following the client’s pace to build trust and understanding.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Deborah collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and comfort level. She adapts the balance of somatic awareness, ACT exercises, and conversation based on what proves helpful in practice.
If you are considering online therapy, confirm the session formats available when you book. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It can also let clients use movement or grounding practices in familiar surroundings and bring notes or tools into a session for hands-on practice. Ask about current session options before scheduling to ensure they match your needs.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- Alabama, Illinois
- Languages
- English