About Deborah
Deborah (Debbie) Connery is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 33 years of experience helping people in Illinois manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and life transitions. She speaks plainly and listens first to understand each person’s situation. Her goal is to make it easier for someone to start therapy and feel comfortable about the process.
Debbie focuses on practical steps that fit daily life. She draws on Client-Centered Therapy to follow the person's pace and priorities.
How Deborah works
She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and Solution-Focused Therapy to set clear, achievable goals. Sessions are collaborative. Debbie aims to build on strengths and look for small, helpful changes that add up.
She helps people sort through relationship strain, career concerns, anger, and issues tied to aging or end-of-life matters. She also addresses mood disorders, panic, obsessions and compulsions, and feelings of emptiness or isolation. Her work includes support for people dealing with hoarding, control issues, guilt and shame, forgiveness, and intellectual disability-related concerns.
She offers guidance around hospice and bereavement topics and helps people facing major life changes find direction and purpose. Debbie keeps language simple and focuses on what clients can try right away. She works with each person to pick approaches that feel right and practical.
The emphasis is on steady progress and restoring a sense of hope and forward motion.
Deborah lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Deborah works with
The areas below are the ones Deborah selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Social anxiety and phobia
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 33 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Illinois |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How these approaches work online
Client-Centered Therapy puts the person’s priorities first and creates space for them to set the pace of work. Online sessions let the therapist follow your lead while you describe what matters most and decide what to focus on next.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify patterns of thinking that keep problems going and tests new ways of behaving. In remote sessions, CBT can include practical exercises, homework assignments, and real-time problem solving that translate directly into daily routines.
Solution-Focused Therapy concentrates on small, realistic goals and the steps that lead to change. This approach fits well with short check-ins by phone or text and with goal-setting during video sessions.
Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, try methods that fit those goals, and adjust the plan over time. That collaborative process helps find what actually works for the individual's situation.
Online formats offer flexibility for people juggling busy schedules. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can work when internet bandwidth is limited or when being on camera feels difficult. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to check in between sessions or to have shorter, focused exchanges during a busy day.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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