About Dr . Mary Beth DeBrodie
It’s An Honor For Me To Do This Important Work
Whenever someone asks me why I became a therapist, I have a different response. My answer has changed over the years, evolving as my experience grows. But most significantly, I realize the importance of the work I do to provide clients with hope and healing.
I’m fortunate and blessed to provide treatment that has the potential to impact a person’s life in such a powerful way. The reward of watching someone accomplish their goals and make progress in their lives gives me the ultimate job satisfaction.
My Practice
It has been a privilege to work with children, families, couples, and individuals to help them confront whatever challenges they face. One of the ways I assist people is by helping them identify patterns that have become unhealthy and negatively impact their lives. Whether we are aware of it or not, they are often rooted in experiences from our past. These unhealthy thoughts and behaviors show up in our lives as repeating themes that affect how we react to life’s everyday problems and keep us from experiencing life to its fullest.
In addition to supporting my clients with whatever stressors are affecting them currently, my practice is trauma-informed, meaning I have additional education and training to support anyone who has experienced both chronic and acute trauma. People who have grown up with trauma tend to experience the world in a way that leaves them more vulnerable to physical and emotional distress. They often feel unheard and unimportant, harboring deep feelings of betrayal and mistrust. My additional training ensures that I am more sensitive to their unique needs so that they’re able to feel safe and willing to trust the therapeutic process.
I’m interested to hear my clients’ stories and find out what they most want. I’ve been told by clients that I’m a good listener—it’s important to me that every client feels heard. If they’ve tried therapy before, my clients often tell me that I have a different take on things that makes the process more comfortable and conversational. Because I have training in a wide array of modalities—including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) to name a few—it enables me to pinpoint the best therapy for my clients. It’s never a one-size-fits-all approach. But ultimately, healing happens within the relationship we forge.
My Counseling Philosophy
An authentic human connection underlies all effective therapy. For treatment to be successful, it requires both the client and therapist to be physically and emotionally present. We must both dare to be vulnerable. The therapeutic relationship can only be cultivated when clients feel fully accepted and unconditionally supported, safe in the knowledge that their therapist has their best interests at heart.
Once established, I continue to nurture this relationship by treating clients with respect, empathy, and acceptance, and by always responding authentically. I aim to be responsive to their needs and compassionate toward their abilities. Another crucial component of therapy is creating a safe space. Safeguarding the emotional well-being of individuals as well as the factors that contribute to healing allows transformation to happen.
For me, the counseling process is not a passive experience but an interactive one. For therapy to be effective, clients must be actively engaged in the process. That means that we work together to identify problems and develop solutions. I am not the expert on their life or the fixer of their problems—the client is. Nor am I the kind of counselor who advises about exactly what my clients should be doing, thinking, or feeling. We will work together to identify problems and develop solutions.
Over the years, I’ve learned that being the best and most authentic version of myself and offering that to my clients is what provides them with the most beneficial therapy. I engage with my clients as a real person who is not pretending to be perfect, untroubled, or anything but human. Although I won’t claim to have all the answers, I happen to be someone who, along with my humanness, has years of expertise to share with my clients.
A Little More About Me
In my spare time, I enjoy community-focused outreach. I’m involved with a non-profit organization whose mission is to prevent human trafficking and another that helps to provide support dogs to the disabled. Additionally, as a Military Life specialist, I have worked with members of the armed forces and their families to resolve issues related to deployment and family life.
In 2018, I wrote and was awarded a grant that supported children who were victims of the opioid crisis. I also contracted with the family court system and ran a parenting program that helped parents learn better parenting skills. As well as providing parenting/child assessments, I’m regularly contracted to assist in cases where parents need help working on co-parenting skills. I also serve as an adjunct professor of Psychology and Social Work for several different universities.
Mary Beth DeBrodie, LCSW, PhD is a licensed therapist based in Columbia, Missouri with extensive training and experience in several state-of-the-art evidence-based therapeutic modalities. She received a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Case Western University and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Mary Beth went on to receive a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dr. DeBrodie has training and experience in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), and the Gottman Method couples therapy. In addition to her work in forensics and community mental health and as a supervisor and adjunct professor in Social Work and Psychology, Mary Beth has been in private practice for over 25 years and is skilled in working with children and adults.