Debra McGuffee, LMFT
Practical, experienced therapist for life stressors
Explore online therapy optionsWorks with
- Anger
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Depression
How Debra works
Practical facts
- Credentials
- LMFT
- Licensed in
- Minnesota
- Years in practice
- 30
- Languages
- English
- Session format
- Online, through our partner platform
About Debra
Debra McGuffee is a Minnesota Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with 30 years of clinical experience. She helps people cope with stress, anxiety, depression, anger, relationship problems, addiction, grief, and work-related concerns. Debra offers a straightforward and compassionate approach that aims to make change feel practical and possible.
Her sessions focus on clear goals and usable skills. She listens to what matters most and works with each person to build stronger communication, better emotion regulation, and more reliable day-to-day coping strategies.
Background and approach
When requested, she can include faith-informed Christian counseling as part of the work. Debra mixes several well-known methods to fit each person’s needs. She draws from client-centered methods to ensure the person feels heard, uses cognitive behavioral techniques to spot and shift unhelpful thinking, and applies dialectical behavior strategies for managing intense emotions.
She also uses emotionally focused ideas for addressing relationship patterns and connection issues. She brings additional perspective from many years working in business and corporate settings, which can be useful for someone dealing with workplace stress or career decisions. Debra says she values practical steps and clear homework that translate into daily life.
Sessions are offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. People seeking therapy begin by completing a short matching questionnaire and then scheduling a time that fits their needs. Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What Debra works with
Everything Debra lists, in the therapist's own terms. Anger is the reason this directory exists; the rest tells you what usually sits alongside it in Debra's practice.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Depression
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Debra lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening, empathy, and helping people feel understood so they can identify their own goals and strengths. This approach helps when someone needs a supportive space to sort through feelings and decisions.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches practical skills to notice and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors. It is often used for anxiety, depression, anger, and stress because it emphasizes clear steps and homework that can be practiced between sessions.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, offers concrete tools for managing intense emotions and improving distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. It can be especially useful for people who want skills to calm down quickly and to handle conflict more productively.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match their goals, preferences, and the issues they want to address. That means trying techniques, reviewing what helps, and adjusting the plan over time.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video suits full conversations and nonverbal cues, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be a shorter check-in, and text messaging supports ongoing brief contact and reminders. These options let people fit therapy into busy schedules, manage symptoms between appointments, and choose the format that feels most practical for them.
Questions people ask about Debra
What kinds of concerns does she address?
She supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression, anger, relationship and intimacy issues, addictions, grief, parenting and career difficulties among other concerns.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her style is practical and listening-focused. She sets clear goals and teaches skills people can use between sessions.
What is her professional background?
She has worked as a therapist for 30 years and also has 26 years of experience in business and corporate settings.
What credentials and where is she licensed?
She is a Minnesota Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, listed as LMFT and practices from Minnesota.
Which languages are supported and can international clients join?
Sessions are offered in English. International clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats does she offer?
She meets via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the first steps to start therapy?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule a session based on the therapist's calendar.