When we met at  that hypnotherapy training, I was a complete novice, but Dr. Gilmour had a couple of decades of solid therapeutic experience under her belt. She had begun her professional life  as a nurse, specializing in traumatic neural injuries, and at one time held the associate head nurse position of trauma nursing at a hospital in Miami during the violence of the "MiamI Vice" days.  Her interest in head and spinal cord injuries led her to earn a Ph.D in neuropsychology and open her own practice. Due to her interest and special skill set, she frequently treats difficult cases, working with clients who have neural injuries and organic brain disorders. Also incorporated into her practice is the psychological perspective. Treating the vast array of Mental Health issues and psychological  difficulties, including but not limited to Schizophrenia.  Building on that already impressive background, she had added Hypnosis, Neurolinguistic Programing (NLP) and Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT), which are now a strong therapeutic modality. She brings to these techniques the same warmth, compassion, and professional rigor that have characterized her career.  

Another characteristic that Deborah brings to every aspect of her life is her unceasing generosity-------to her clients, her colleagues, and her friends. She seems instantly to enter rapport with a variety of people. She is equally at home with children, raucous young adults, and serious scholars at all stages of their careers. She seems to fit into any interaction and leave it better than it was before, without anyone realizing that communication has taken place outside of conscious awareness. I am personally the beneficiary of scores of hours of her professional mentoring, and count myself lucky to call her my close friend, as well. I know many others, both professional and lay, to whom she has also freely given her time as a mentor.

I can also recommend Dr. Gilmour as one of the most entertaining story-tellers I have ever encountered. One of the tenet of hypnotherapy is that the events of people's lives are simply isolated facts until they tell themselves stories to interpret those events to give them meaning. Sometimes the stories people tell themselves create a false moral that keeps them trapped in detrimental behavior. One of the roles of a hypnotherapist is to be a "story doctor" --- to mend or retell broken stories so that the meaning they create is beneficial. Dr. Gilmour is a gifted story doctor, with her own wealth of life experiences that she can spin with equal facility into therapeutic metaphors or hilarious social conversation.

--Scott T. Luedtke

  Consultant

  Certified Hypnotist

The first time I walked into Dr. Gilmour's office I felt safe. From the beginning of my treatments Dr.Gilmour showed me understanding, where others had made me feel mentally ill, she demonstrated true qualities of patience and compassion, empathic listening and genuine caring. She gave me the tools to help me get my life back. You knew she was there for you like an anchor in a storm.

Her background in nursing in the neurosurgical/trauma field could only have enhanced her already unique capacity to make that so important connection with her patients. She showed compassion, understanding, gentleness and kindness that was superb. Hypnotherapy was introduced into my treatment that provided me with the knowledge that I had the ability and the inner strength to overcome my ill health. Quickly I learned how to deal with the stress and had the ability to slow my mind down and relax. To begin a journey that would bring me out of the darkness.

As a neuropsychologist she is not only a talented professional, she is there to do whatever is necessary to help improve your life. I have never met anyone so dedicated to her patients and profession. So wiling to go the extra mile to help improve their lives. 

--D. Filer, 

  Hartford, CT

How does one write about someone you have only met through e-mails.  Last year I was talking to a buddy in the US (Im  19 years old and a soldier serving in Iraq) and telling him "I'm loosing it man". (A few of my buddies had already been taken and every day I thought I would be next.) After listening to me for a while, he asked if he could give a doctor  (and friend) he knew, my e-mail address, he thought she might be able to help. I agreed, but did not think anything would come of it.  Who would take the time without being paid, and if they did, how could they help me from such a distance.

Within a few hours of the conversation I had an e-mail in my inbox. All it said was "I'm here for you, day or night, write me a story, write me a story about a young boy who is in the army,  what is his name? (any name is fine), with the exception of your name, and do not use the word "I" use the word  "he"  when you write your story. Tell me if he sleeps well, tell me how strong he is, tell me how proud he is to be an American serving his country, tell me if he has a significant other, male or female, tell me if he had a significant other, what she/he would look like, tell me if he is afraid, tell me if he is angry.  I will be waiting  with great anticipation to read your story."  Dr. G.

 I thought she was crazy but out of sheer desperation I wrote a story.That was the beginning of many stories I would write.  Within hours of my sending the first story, there was a reply.  From the very beginning she embarked on a fascinating adventure with me through my stories, How she came up with her stories I will never know, it was if she had been in combat herself. Her understanding and intuition of what was going on in my head was amazing. Not to mention her sense of humor, it was wicked and so unexpected. Her camel jokes were outragous. I will never look at a camel the same way again. Whether my stories  were light hearted or deeply disturbing and graphic, she found a way to guide me, and gave me the ability to weave my own magic into my life in the desert.

I will never be able to repay Dr. G.  I don't know what she did or how she did it, but I began to change, to relax, to sleep soundly at night, to dream of home when I did sleep. I could think of my buddies without the guilt of "why them and not me" , I  saw new purpose to what I was doing, and why I was doing it. I could

In two months I will finish my tour and without a doubt I will be heading North to meet this unbelievable woman who is so committed to her purpose, someone with total dedication to her profession and who turned this young boy into a man. It is suffice to say that I am not the only soldier she writes to. So I think I can speak for all of the guys I know personally she has helped and continues to help, 

A BIG THANK YOU DR. G.

Forever Grateful

--Jose.......... 

Iraq

There is nothing more terrifying to a writer than to come face to face with a creative block, an emotional obstacle that seems to threaten your ability to write another word. I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Gilmour, who used patience and insight into the human mind to guide me through my period of concern.  With her help and expertise in the power of hypnoses, I quickly returned to productive work, and I’ve continued to use her suggestions and affirmations to overcome my fear of failure, the real basis of writer's block. I recommend Dr. Gilmour without reservation.

--Don Massey, Hartford, CT. Author, A Matter of Degree

I have battled obesity all my life. I suffered from health issues because of it. I have asthma, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, shortness of breath and leg cramps. To name a few. Many times,  I charged into battle, trying conventional , non-conventional, popular and not so popular methods for losing weight, only to retreat with a profound sense of failure. How could I think of ever putting myself through that again? Could I dig deep enough to find the strength and courage to go one more round?  

I moved out on my own and I lost one job after the other and with no job, and an inability to remain living in my own apartment, I began to drink excessively. For years I lived a life of confusion, fear, self destruction, and overwhelming anxiety, accompanied by extreme depression.  I had lost everything and found my self living on the streets and finally in a shelter.  The best thing that could ever have happened to me. With the assistance of social security I once again moved into my own apartment and began seeing Dr. Gilmour, she was the only brain injury Dr. I found, who would take Medicare and was paid poorly for the services she gave.

Dr. Gilmour, from our first appointment, assisted me from looking up and seeing the bottom, to becoming an individual that is now a productive member of society. I could not have become this person without her expertise in understanding the challenges encountered by brain injured individuals. Her ability to instill the belief that you can make it, and want to strife to be the best you can be ,and be proud of who that person is, to make you honor yourself, forgive yourself, and most of all to love yourself. 

Through Dr. Gilmour's, never demeaning, but affirming, cognitive therapeutic approach I was, and continue to be taught, tools used to handle a wide variety of life's challenges. She immediately understood me, as though she was in my head looking out through my eyes. Her insight into my feelings, or lack thereof, astounded me. She taught me to laugh at my self with her Scottish sense of humor , her stories always had a message, a much deeper meanings. She taught me how do the smallest of activities without judgement, just patience and love. Not to mention she was available wherever she was in the world, anytime day or night. 

In conclusion, even today I seek Dr. Gilmours' expertise as an invaluable part of my life. I now own my own home, my own car, have a part time job and have been sober for years. This transformation I attribute to Dr. Gilmour. She saved my  life. 

--B. Forst

 Old Weathersfield, CT