Joanne Deal , LPC

Joanne Deal is a Master’s-level Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Connecticut who guides individuals and families through the challenges that keep them from living a full life. She frames counseling as a collaborative process that can foster growth on emotional, relational, spiritual, and existential levels, and acknowledges that work may touch on difficult experiences from earlier developmental years that continue to affect present relationships and functioning.

Joanne partners with clients to identify priorities and create a practical path forward. She often assigns between-session work - such as targeted exercises or reading - to reinforce progress beyond the hour-long appointment. She is candid about the effort therapeutic change requires and emphasizes the need for commitment when learning new ways to respond to triggers and relationship patterns.

Her clinical focus includes anxiety and depression, grief and bereavement, relationship and parenting concerns, and support for those with Asperger’s/high-functioning autism. She also works with anger management, life transitions such as chronic illness or aging, communication and conflict resolution including couples work, trauma-informed care, family-of-origin issues, blended and homeschooling families, and other relational and developmental concerns.

Joanne describes her orientation as eclectic, drawing on approaches such as Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Existential Therapy, among others. She is comfortable working with clients who maintain strong ties to faith or cultural identity and often views clients in the context of family influence and interaction. Academically she earned an A.A. from a community college in southern California with high honors, a B.A. from the University of Southern California with highest honors and membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, and a M.A. in Professional Counseling from Liberty University with high academic honors. She holds Connecticut licensure as an LPC and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. Joanne is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American Association of Christian Counselors, and she approaches her work with respect, partnership, and a focus on healing and reconciliation.