01 · Who Joanne works with

Joanne works with relationship issues, trauma and abuse and grief

Joanne lists 15 specialisms and 38 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Joanne chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Joanne's own words

What Joanne says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

Counseling is a process of working through issues that are interfering with you living a full life. In the process of doing this, there is a tremendous level of growth on many levels: emotional, relational, spiritual, existential, even physical. Counseling may at times address very difficult situations, including addressing difficult or painful experiences from your developmental years which are currently impacting you and your relationships.

As a Master’s-level Licensed Professional Counselor in Connecticut, I work with my clients to explore the factors which have led them to pursue counseling: we collaborate to determine our priorities. Recognizing that real change requires more than an hour per week, clients may be assigned homework to complete between sessions, or may be encouraged to read an article or book on a particular subject pertaining to the issues being addressed; we will discuss the homework at the next session as well as suggestions for applying the material to your life. I won’t sugar-coat it: changing how you respond to people or other triggers takes real work and a willingness to change.

Areas in which I specialize include Anxiety and Depression; Loss, Bereavement, and Grief; Marital and Parenting Issues; and Asperger’s/High-Functioning Autism.

I am also experienced in working with clients who have issues with Anger Management, Life Changes (Chronic Illness, Aging Issues, Employment or Economic Changes), Communication and Conflict Resolution (including Couples Counseling), Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Equipping Parents to work effectively with their children with AS/HFA, Trauma-Informed Counseling, Family-of-Origin issues, Blended Families, and Home Schooling Families.

My approach to counseling is “eclectic,” meaning that I approach different issues in different ways. Approaches that I draw upon include Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Existential Therapy, Gottman Method, Mindfulness Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Trauma-Focused Therapy. I am very comfortable working with those who have strong ties to their faith and/or ethnic/cultural background. I have been told that I approach my counseling almost more as a marriage and family therapist, as I view clients not as isolated entities, but as people who are influenced strongly by their families and others around them, and who in turn influence those very individuals as well.

As an undergraduate I graduated with my A.A. from a community college in southern California with high academic honors. Then I transferred to the University of Southern California, with a double major in Communication Theory and Public Relations. My B.A was earned with highest academic honors (summa cum laude), and I was inducted into the academic honor societies Phi Beta Kappa (liberal arts and sciences) and Phi Kappa Phi (all-university). I completed my M.A. in Professional Counseling at Liberty University with high academic honors. In addition to being licensed by the state of Connecticut, I am also a Nationally Certified Counselor.

A member of the American Counseling Association and the American Association of Christian Counselors, my mission as a Licensed Professional Counselor is to treat each client with respect, to walk alongside as you work through issues that are troubling you, and to be a part of the process of healing and reconciliation. I look forward to working with you!

Joanne Deal, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Joanne works

The 11 approaches Joanne lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Joanne lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Joanne's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Joanne runs a session.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian

The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.

Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT

Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.

Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT

A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.

The Gottman Method

A couples approach built on decades of observational research into what distinguishes relationships that last. Structured and assessment-led: it maps friendship, conflict and shared meaning, then works on the specific mechanics of how the two of you argue.

Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT

Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.

Motivational InterviewingMI

A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.

Narrative Therapy

Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.

Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT

Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.

Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed

CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

Also listed

• Existential Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Joanne practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Joanne's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

   BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Joanne at this point.

2. Naming Joanne specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Joanne is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Joanne.

3. If the caseload is full

   You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

4. The first conversation

   A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

5. If the fit is wrong

   Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

3 questions worth asking Joanne

Built from what Joanne actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Joanne's - Joanne has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

• “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

  Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

• “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

  Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

• “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

  On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential

LPC

Licensed in

Connecticut

Licence

CT LPC 3739

Licence number

3739

Licence expires

31 Jul 2027

NPI

1811508112

Years in practice

9

Gender

Female

Languages

English

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Joanne's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Joanne. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.