Hello, I'm Deborah
Most people can describe what’s happening. Fewer know why. That’s the part we work with.
— Deborah Batres, AMFT
Read my story →Deborah Batres, AMFT #162914 · Associate Marriage & Family Therapist
Botaitis Therapy Group · Supervised by Nicole Botaitis, LMFT #47319
Hello, I'm Deborah
Most people can describe what’s happening. Fewer know why. That’s the part we work with.
— Deborah Batres, AMFT
Read my story →Is this you?
You are not here because something is wrong with you. You are here because you are ready to understand what is actually happening.
Free 15-minute consultationSomething changed
Relationship, career, identity, loss. What used to fit doesn't anymore.
Something you've carried
It happened, or a lot of small things did. You want to understand it, not keep carrying it.
Fine on the outside
Everyone relies on you. You’re not sure who you’d tell if you weren’t okay, and the gap keeps widening.
The same fight, on repeat
You love each other. The fight is never really about what it's about.
More on anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout, couples and EMDR therapy.
About Deborah
I know that pattern from the inside. Before becoming a therapist I spent two decades in finance and founding startup companies, chasing a version of success I never stopped to ask if I wanted. I learned to perform long before I learned to notice what was happening underneath. Finding my way back to myself is the work that brought me here, and it's why I recognize it in the people I sit with.
I'm engaged, direct, and curious about what's underneath the patterns you've learned to live with. I care about more than symptom relief. I want to understand how you relate to yourself, the people you love, and the life you're building, so you're not managing your life, you're living it.
Read my full story →My approach
If you want to feel different, not only function better, this is the work.
We go toward the feeling
Not around it. That’s where the change is.
I follow what comes up
Your system says it before language does.
I say what I notice
Patterns are easier to see from the outside.
Psychodynamic·Somatic·Polyvagal·IFS·Mindfulness-Based·Trauma-Informed·CBT·EMDR·Emotion-Focused·Gottman Method
What I offer
For individuals
For anxiety, grief, trauma, burnout, and the unease you can't name. We find where the pattern started.
$150 · 50 min
Learn more →For couples
For the fight that keeps returning, or the one that changed everything. We get underneath the argument.
$180 · 60 min
Learn more →For trauma
For a single event, or the years of small ones. We work with what the body still holds.
$195 · 50 min
Learn more →Begin
Start with a free 15-minute call. There’s no pressure and no commitment — just a conversation about what’s going on.
I see clients in person at Botaitis Therapy Group in Santa Barbara, and offer telehealth sessions throughout California.
