Barbara Defazzio

Barbara Defazzio is a Florida-licensed mental health counselor with 40 years of professional experience. She spent over two decades running a private practice in Massachusetts and later continued clinical work after relocating to Florida. Her career has focused on the effects of sexual and physical trauma and on helping people manage stress and anxiety.

She has worked extensively with post-traumatic stress related to abuse and with people who experienced the foster care system as children. She also supports parents and guardians navigating adoption and the challenges of integrating a newly adopted child into family life. Her practice addresses grief, loss, and a range of family concerns.

Barbara uses straightforward, person-focused methods in sessions. She draws on client-centered techniques to follow each person’s pace and priorities. She also brings in tools from cognitive behavioral and solution-focused approaches when those are helpful for reducing anxiety or solving specific problems.

People often come for help with attachment issues, abandonment concerns, caregiver stress, and communication problems. She also has experience with aging and geriatric matters, blended family issues, and women's issues. Trauma-focused methods are part of her background for working through past abuse and post-traumatic stress.

Barbara emphasizes practical steps you can try between sessions. She encourages small, manageable changes and works collaboratively to set goals. To begin, a short matching questionnaire is completed and scheduling follows the therapist’s availability.

How Barbara’s Approaches Translate Online

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and following the person's lead. In practice this means the therapist reflects what is said, checks understanding, and helps clients set goals that feel right to them. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviors affect feelings and uses small experiments and practice to reduce anxiety or manage stress. Trauma-focused therapy concentrates on working through the effects of past abuse and post-traumatic stress with careful pacing and attention to safety.

Choosing the right method is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and then suggest ways of working together. That plan can be adjusted over time based on what helps most.

The original biography does not list specific session formats, so confirm available online options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, shorten check-ins when needed, or avoid travel time. It also allows using practical exercises and worksheets during a session so people can try strategies and report back in the next meeting.