Deedra is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has been in clinical practice over twenty five years and is the author of Winning Custody: A Woman’s Guide to Retaining Custody of Her Children. The book was written as an interactive self-help guide for women going through a custody battle after Deedra experienced her own custody suit. She is highly respected as a custody coach by Family Law judges and attorney’s, having worked with people facing difficult divorces from coast to coast.

Before writing her book on winning custody she focused her clinical attention on the treatment of eating disorders, once again, using her personal experiences with having been overweight and bulimic to help others. Ms. Hunter is certified as an eating disorders specialist and also holds two certificates in chemical dependency from the University of Miami in Florida. Deedra is a prolific author and her next book on overcoming the past to build a better future will be released nationally next year.

Can you imagine re-writing your life story to move from pain to greater peace? Well you can, because the main focus of Deedra’s counseling work currently is a system of therapy she developed called “W.H.Y.” The initials “W.H.Y.” stands for “Willing to Hear You”. Deedra observed over the years a clear pattern of people repeating past mistakes and feeling constantly stuck in a negative pattern of painful choices. She researched and found that the majority of the overwhelming pain her clients felt came from the unheard and unmet needs of the inner child that lives within all of us. If the inner-child part of our personality suffered trauma, abuse, neglect, or abandonment in the past then that part of the person will be screaming to get attention as an adult. This dysfunctional pattern results in acting out behavior that often causes anxiety, shame, or guilt resulting in years and years of terrible unhappiness. Deedra works personally with her clients to retell their history, reframe the events of their past, release the pain, and forgive others and to forgive themselves. This process has brought peace and happiness to hundreds of people who literally wrote a new script for their future where they could experience the success that she believes God intended for them to live.

Listed in Who’s Who of American Women, Deedra has been quoted in the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, featured in Working Mother magazine and in Orlando Magazine. She is a contributing author for Posh Parenting magazine and has been the media mental health expert on NBC’s WTVJ-TV 6/News in Miami, and on Brighthouse Network’s TV 13 News, WKMG-TV 6/CBS News and WOFL-TV 35/Fox News in central Florida. Deedra also hosted the radio shows “Facts about the Issues” on WKAT 1360 AM in Miami, and “Life Works Live” on WTLN 950 AM in Orlando.

Workshops & Group Therapy

Deedra has lectured at the University of Miami, Barry University, Rollins College, University Behavioral Center, Mark Dogoli Center, Share the Care, Inc., many local high schools, and at New Destiny Christian Church. Her topics include custody issues, trauma, anger, care-giving, eating disorders, and grief & loss. Group seminars are available for any number of participants and she is also available for individual one-on-one counseling following her programs.  

The LifeWorks Group, Inc

1850 Lee Road, Ste 250

Winter Park, FL 32789

407-647-7005

Fax 407-647-8874

www.LifeWorksGroup.org