“Deborah created a safe, sacred space for me to explore my heart’s desires. Each session began with a lovely guided meditation or visualization that put me completely at ease. With her gentle guidance, I was able to tune out the head chatter and listen to my heart. Working with Deborah was a rich and joyful experience. I would highly recommend her to anyone wanting to do this work.”
“We all adopt and shed different identities as we go through life. Some are costumes, some are skins, some are camouflage and some are armor. Some fit like a glove, natural and easy, and others, though useful for a time, really need to go after a while, and when they’re not let go, weigh us down, get in our way, and like a dirty diaper start to make us stink.
We work together to recover and remember who you really are and what is most important to you at your deepest core. Together we identify what the stories are that are keeping you held back. The disempowering stories that we tell ourselves are so persistent and familiar that we barely realize they are running in a continuous loop in our minds. Like living next to a train station or owning a grandfather clock, after a while the sound just seems to fade into the background and we don’t even realize it is there anymore. To bring these hinderances to light is to begin to break them down and relieve the pain. ”
Definitely Not Debbie
I'm Deborah or Deb. Once upon a time, I was Debbie but that feels like a long, long time ago. That pixie haircut feels like a long time ago too!
My passion in life is to help people get out of the rut, uncover what they want, and then go get it - especially as relates to career, relationships, creativity, and health.
I am a Reverand, CCAR certified life coach, certified palliative caregiver, workshop leader, and meditation teacher with extensive training in secular and multi-faith spiritual counseling. My philosophy is rooted deeply in Buddhist teachings and influenced by attachment theory, neuroscience, and a multitude of healing modalities.
I provide 1 on 1 mentorship, coaching, and counseling, teach group workshops, and run retreats for people who are interested in heightening their awareness of self and nurturing their capacity for empathy and emotional mastery. Our goal is to foster an authentic relationship to life and self and to reduce suffering in all life areas.
I have a 30+ year dedicated meditation practice that began as a solitary pursuit and has evolved through deep study with Theravadan and Zen mentorship. My training includes Palliative Care and Spiritual Counseling certification with Robert Chodo Campbell and Koshin Paley Ellison of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Insight Meditation and MBSR with John Aaron of the New York Insight Meditation Center. My main meditation practice is Vipassana (insight).
I have worked as a palliative care volunteer at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City where I also served as a group meditation and spirituality group discussion facilitator in their psychiatric wing. I spent the greater part of 2016 as a Recovery and Life Coach, meditation facilitator, and retreat manager at the New Life Foundation in Chiang Rai, Thailand. In 2018 I had the privilege of traveling to Beirut, Lebanon to meet, converse, and teach with educators and students at Syrian Refugee Camp schools there. For many years I also facilitated “Dharmageek”, a weekly meditation and discussion group in New York City.
Meditation, integrity, social and experiential relationships, and service are practices and themes that are integral to the work I do with all my clients.
Born in Massachusetts, I've been fortunate to also live in San Francisco and New York City. From 2016 - 2017 I lived in Thailand and Mexico before returning to New York to further my work and education. I recently moved back to Massachusetts and now live in Salem, the Witch City.