Steve Debois, Ph.D.

Clients With Whom
Steve Works Well 

Steve is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with extensive experience treating adolescents. He believes that a diverse group makeup is a benefit to treatment, wherein students can learn from and support others of different ages, backgrounds, and therapeutic issues. However he specializes in more internalizing disorders such as depression, anxiety, and trauma. School avoidance, OCD, learning differences, excessive video game use, neuroatypical features, and self-esteem issues are commonplace among his group makeup. He is passionate about working with students who often see themselves as 'incapable' or blame others, and helping them to develop the confidence, self-esteem, and accountability to fully embrace their true capacity. He incorporates strong family work into the therapeutic experience so that the student's treatment can be enhanced by the family connection. 

Education &
Prior Work Experience

Steve's clinical experiences include work in a variety of outpatient and residential programs with children and adolescents. He completed a doctoral internship at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, and worked for a residential treatment program prior to coming to Second Nature. Steve received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Tulsa. He has conducted research examining school readiness in preschoolers, evaluation of intervention programs for adolescents, and the outcomes of DUI prevention. 

Strengths

Steve's background includes psychological testing and diagnostic formulation as well as individual, family, and group therapy. He typically uses a combination of cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and systems theory interventions in his therapy. He is skilled at working with complex students who require flexible and creative interventions. He utilizes a direct yet compassionate approach to circumvent the avoidance and defensiveness common with teenage clients.