Deborah Skalabrin, MSW, LICSW
About Me & This Therapy
What do we discuss & how could this therapy help me?
In this therapy, we discuss ways to become more healthy and connected with yourself and others. Disrupting unhealthy patterns ignites a chain reaction with the power to transform relationships, lower stress, and influence others toward positive change too!
Common topics:
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Shifting perspective to a more helpful and compassionate truth. Realizing the same facts fit an alternative explanation that is more likely, kind, healthy, and actionable can relieve stress, renew hope, and create a clearer path forward.
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Identifying what you can change. Accepting that others may keep "doing what they do" (at least for now), magnifies your power, because every effort goes toward what you firmly control - yourself.
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Understanding people (both neurodivergent and neurotypical) in new ways...yourself, your child if you have one, your partner, your friends, your boss. Increasing mutuality makes self-advocacy more effective and reduces unexpected or undesired consequences that cause stress.
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Noticing patterns that aren't serving you, such as anxiety loops, closed thinking, or low flexibility, so you can try something different, and stop playing Whack-a-Mole with the same problems and unmet needs.
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Nurturing your true self, as you pursue what you need and want in an often-negating world.
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Strengthening healthy boundaries, so you can reduce unnecessary strain, and feel less harmed by events or opinions outside your sphere.
What is a session like?
We "meet" via internet, on a HIPAA-confidential video platform, typically for 53-60 minutes at a regular weekly day and time). Just you and I, on screens. First session is to get oriented, then we jump right in.
Sessions focus on your life right now, and what you might want to do to improve it. We review your concerns of the week, reflect on feelings, discuss insights, and generate ideas for change.
Most clients take notes and practice between sessions, to support growth in their everyday life. You receive a free, encrypted email in case we need to exchange written communications.
What is Deb like as a therapist?
Clients describe me as caring, very straightforward, and solution-focused. Most prefer that, so that's probably part of a good client-therapist fit.
I'm unstuffy and in many ways "untherapist-like," but I am a professional and do all the professional-ly stuff including confidentiality, of course.
I support you as you are, absolutely, but also challenge you to change what doesn't work for you. It's a delicate balance but I hope I mostly succeed.
What are Deb's experience & credentials?
I have supported neurodivergent individuals and their families for over 20 years...in homes, schools, classes, therapy at my previous in-person office, and now online.
I specialize in challenges of Autism, Asperger's, anxiety, and "oppositional defiance".
I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Washington State since 2008, and in Idaho since 2009. Before that I was a Registered Counselor and parenting consultant.
I earned a Master of Social Work degree from Eastern Washington University, WA in 2005.
I am a parent to both neurotypical and neurodivergent children (all grown and independent).
How did Deb start in this field?
What is her stance on neurodivergence & therapy?
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In the 1990's, I had a child with extreme struggles in self-regulation, sensory integration, anxiety and social connection. Her near-constant distress showed me how little I knew as I journeyed from then-recommended efforts to "fix"...to starting a Floortime practice...and on to more enlightened, neurodivergence-supportive practices.
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I embrace the field's shift from focus on outer behaviors to curiosity about (and legitimizing of) each individual's experiences. It's a fact that human diversity is wide, and we are all whole and "normal."
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I honor my clients' wishes to work toward a life they choose and love themselves in, whether that's strictly a neurodivergent one, or one that dips in and out of the neurotypical world with less stress and masking.
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I do not work for or receive funds from Autism Speaks.
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I think good therapy invites change, not away from yourself, but toward your best self. No one seeks therapy for more "status quo." I strive to use respect, skill, and support to encourage you toward a life that feels more confidently and happily yours.
