Deborah Valerio, LPC

Deborah Valerio is a licensed professional counselor with extensive experience supporting children, adolescents, adults, couples, military families, and K-12 students. She combines cultural competence with a collaborative, strength-based approach to help individuals navigate difficult emotional and interpersonal challenges and find opportunities for growth and healing.

Valerio holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Northern Arizona University, earned in 1994, and a Master of Counseling from the University of Phoenix, completed in 1998. She also maintains a teaching certificate in early childhood education covering Birth to Age 8 and Grade 3, and she spent 12 years teaching at the elementary level. In clinical practice she brings 12 years of experience working across community mental health settings and academic environments, and she currently serves as a K-12 school counselor in a public school.

Her therapeutic style is solution-focused and grounded in client-centered principles, emphasizing clients' strengths while using evidence-based methods. She integrates mindfulness practices and cognitive behavioral therapy - often abbreviated as CBT - along with trauma-focused and solution-focused techniques to address symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, relational concerns, and other life stressors. Valerio aims to both support and challenge clients through a collaborative process that explores the roots of problematic behaviors, beliefs, and feelings and moves toward healing and self-empowerment.