Dr. Dara

Dr. Dara Psychologist • Mom • Author • Change Maker
and no-nonsense optimist on a mission to help you b You need someone who gets you–what you want and what you need.

When you’re looking for help, guidance or support, you need to feel understood. Someone who can help you experience meaningful change, whether you are looking to transform your life entirely or just make the SHIFTS that will help you reach your potential.

What I do…. I am a licensed psychologist who specializes in rapid transformation, helping people move from crappy to happy, from ordinary to

extraordinary, from surviving to thriving.

If you want to experience true fulfillment, break free from the prison of “need-tos” and “to-dos” and start living a life of Ta-Das, you’re in the right place. My Philosophy (and Results)

Real change doesn’t have to take years or even months.

Working with me causes accelerated healing. I am a-
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
​Author
​Featured Psychologist in the Media

Are You Ready for Transformation? I believe in rapid transformation to gently and effectively clear emotional blocks and achieve dramatic transformation, immediately decreasing levels of anxiety and increasing clarity to reach full physical and emotional balance. Trauma is a physical and emotional response to perceived threat. Unfortunately, after you have experienced trauma, it is very common to re-experience the trauma again and again, even when the threat is absent. Something triggers you and you are immediately launched into the same emotional experience as when the trauma occurred. This vicious cycle continues, reactivating the trauma over and over–unless it gets cleared. In sessions, we break this cycle–not by changing what you think, but by changing how you think about what you are thinking.

You can also think of transformation as Resolving Trauma...Triggers...and all sorts of other psychological Troubles. Are We a Fit? My no bullSHIFT approach will meet you where you are and take you where you need to be. The way I see it: My job is to get you out of my office and living your best life as your best self.

My clinical background includes working with individuals, couples, families and even groups to dissolve trauma triggers and eliminate recurring traumatic experiences. I am licensed in the states of North Carolina and Florida.

I was a lead therapist for 10 years at Milestones in Recovery, a comprehensive Eating Disorder Treatment Center where I introduced a comprehensive approach to healing that involved mind/body healing. I have cracked the code to the language of disordered eating and the secret to eating disorders through the language of Foodinese.

Early in the pandemic I saw a picture of a healthcare worker hugging an elderly patient in isolation. I immediately felt a calling and recently began working in Assisted Living facilities in the Asheville area.

I also work with aspiring and professional athletes, as well as Olympians, to break mental blocks and achieve peak performance, getting them out of their heads and onto the winner’s platform. "To heal is to have grace for ourselves. To notice our strengths and have appreciation for what we do as opposed to shaming ourselves or trying to “forgive” what we perceive is wrong or broken within us." It's time to get your SHIFT together...
To have clarity and peace
To feel happy and content and peaceful
To experience complete self-acceptance

To have authentic, connection/meaningful relationships with others

To feel understood
To get the help and guidance you need to breakthrough
To make a powerful and lasting SHIFT
Personally Speaking...

In early 2020, I moved to the majestic mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, with my husband Randy, who recently retired as a Federal Law Enforcement Agent and Military Criminal Investigator, my two young, zestful, and inquisitive children, Elyah and Nevin, and our two fur babies, Italian greyhound, Denzel, and Merlin, our adopted Greyhound who is a retired racing dog. If interested, you can read about what it was like to uproot the family and move states away from everything we knew in the middle of a pandemic in our COVID chronicles on my BLOG. (Teaser: Randy and I both got COVID-19 and ended up quarantined in separate states, acutely ill, and wondering who would raise our kids if this thing took us both down.) When I am not working, writing, or with my family, you can find me running outdoors, chasing waterfalls, hiking new trails, riding in my jeep, scouting locally grown food, or cooking a new vegan recipe. Integrity is my favorite word and my favorite quote is:

She believed she could, so she did.

Hey-  Let me re-introduce myself. I have been pretty spotty and disconnected in this social media game!I am Dara DeLeon-...
02/19/2026

Hey-
Let me re-introduce myself. I have been pretty spotty and disconnected in this social media game!

I am Dara DeLeon- MOM (my fav all time title), Psychologist, healer, writer, worker-outer, and a NO BULL shifter.

Over the past couple years I am been doing a lot of heavy LIFE-ing (and lifting!).

I have not been as active in my private practice seeing clients and athletes individually, doing groups or speaking. I MISS IT! I also miss connecting with many of you.

I have adjusted my schedule and tweaked my mindset.

Let’s re-connect, let’s talk, let’s set up a time to meet for coffee (yes, I drink it now!) go for a hike, or meet for a session.

More to follow-
Stay tuned

Let me hear from you….

04/23/2025

This is a golden nugget! Can listen while driving. You can thank me later!
04/03/2025

This is a golden nugget!
Can listen while driving. You can thank me later!

By Barbara Deyo

It has been a hot sec, or over a year since I posted. I think these few pictures sum it all up- I’ve been WITH my babies...
11/27/2023

It has been a hot sec, or over a year since I posted. I think these few pictures sum it all up- I’ve been WITH my babies!

I am not sure how often I will find myself on here, but I do miss connecting with some people. Old fashioned phone calls and even new fashion texts don’t seem to really keep up. I would love to know how some peeps are…

If you are wondering who you are that I want to hear from, you know if when you saw this post with my name, face or kids you felt a warm feeling or like a soulful smile.

Let me give you a short wrap up of my life- Elyah and Nevin are amazing! THRIVING! We continue to hike and travel in between competitive soccer, chess club, drama, book club… They both have straight A’s and are all around amazing humans (biased proud momma).

Merlin and Denzel continue to be our loyal fur family. Merlin has really come into his personality since being rescued from the tracks with shenanigans and Marmeduke moments. Denzel is as cuddly as ever. They both earn their keep as therapy dogs and go to nursing homes with me.

Me- Being Elyah and Nevin’s mom is still my best gig ever. Randy went back to work on the road, so the kids and I fly solo now. I still write in my SHIFT every morning before working out, get outside every chance I can in Asheville’s magical mountains, check snow forecasts to ski, squeeze in some “work”, and loving competitive body building.

The pictures look “perfect” and Facebook posts are all rosey but there has been some real hard lifing (and lifting) going on too. So, I have been digging in. I am really, really seeing and feeling the essence of time and maybe, just maybe beginning to grasp an understanding of BEING IN MY LIFE.

If you took the time to read this- please reach out to me! Preferably email or text or dial the rotary phone!

Rving, soccering, hot springs, resting and a 🐷!
09/26/2022

Rving, soccering, hot springs, resting and a 🐷!

Hello fall! Baby it is getting colder out and we are wanting WARMTH!! It's the colder seasons that bring out the cuffing...
09/23/2022

Hello fall! Baby it is getting colder out and we are wanting WARMTH!!

It's the colder seasons that bring out the cuffing, these arrangements or situationships aren't really meant to last. They're relationships of convenience thanks to the weather. "People tend to feel more lonely during these months and have higher levels of testosterone, driving people to cuff up," licensed clinical psychologist Dara Bushman, Psy.D., tells Cosmopolitan. "In the winter, days are shorter and colder — with less outside activity. Feelings of isolation and boredom start to set in."

Read More:

Cuffing season may be here before we know it, but when exactly does it start? And how can you get in on it?

It has been a while since I blogged. I was feeling conflicted.Do I write without my heart in it and go through the motio...
09/20/2022

It has been a while since I blogged. I was feeling conflicted.

Do I write without my heart in it and go through the motions because I committed to myself to be consistent, or do I take a break to find my mojo?

I was not feeling creative, plus I was feeling overwhelmed.

I was struggling to find the balance of being present for my family and following my calling as a writer and healer. As a “doer” I did not take into account the energy major life events take and how they were sucking the life out of my love cup (and creativity).

But, I kept pushing until I realized I was burnt-out. So, as a result, I wrote this-

Dear Burn-Out,

I felt you. I saw you lurking in from behind, creeping with a stare that you don’t think I noticed. You were not overt or friendly. You were not respectful enough to be direct and tell me what you needed. You are cunning, baffling, and silent. I felt your presence in the air as it thickened and distorted my perception with a film of jadedness and overwhelmingness. You pulled down from the atmosphere like a dark, dewey, humid day sucking the joy out of the light. You created a wind like an undercurrent pulling in thoughts of doubt and uncertainty.

I heard you. You thought I didn’t because I usually block you out with preoccupation and busyness. I justified taking on more and more tasks as “needs”. I ignored you with denial until getting away from you was like sludging through quicksand with desperation and despair.

Burn-out, you no longer serve me as a protectant to my fear of not doing enough or being enough. I have hidden behind you before to avoid the pain of emptiness or void.

You can no longer seep in when I am not grounded. You can no longer squeeze in the cracks when I do not healthfully make choices that are good for me and leave me balanced. YOU can no longer attack me to perpetuate shortness of my nerves or reactiveness to be an a**hole in relationships or fuel financial insecurity.

I heard you…One more session, one more floor to clean, one more page to write, one more dollar to make, one more workout to get in, one more project to complete, one more person to please…I got it, I understood your message. I can now respect your voice.

You recently followed me on my vacation. It took days for the stern echo of your voice to dissipate. You had me thinking I had to vacation perfectly and know exactly what my future should be with the perfect plan to conquer the world.

I saw YOU that night. You did not think I did. I was driving in the dark. I was feary (weary+fear). The road ahead figuratively and literally seemed uncertain and undefined. It was as if I risked falling off the side of the road at every turn. But then I heard a sharp and assertive voice, “You don’t have to know what is up ahead. You just have to look straight in front of you”.

Looking back only distracted me. Trying to look too far ahead overwhelmed me. In driving and in life I only need to know what was two car lengths ahead.

Burn-out, see me, hear me, FEEL me–you no longer have the power–I do!

Fearlessly,

Dara

This letter to Burn-Out may seem dramatic. And yes, I am ok, I am not suicidal or losing my shift. I am real. I am just saying what we all think and are often too scared to admit out loud.

The moral of the story is, we are all human and we show up in the best way we can. The key is having grace and to keep showing up in an imperfectly perfect way.

I don’t have it all figured out, but I do see the strength in honoring myself and having increased awareness of what I need to keep my SHIFT together.

I love being part of a community that prioritizes family and wellness. Thank you  biltmore park for including my contrib...
08/09/2022

I love being part of a community that prioritizes family and wellness.

Thank you biltmore park for including my contribution and tips about talking to our kids on bullying as we head back to school.

I am so excited and humbled to see S.H.I.F.T. Powerful Planner and Journal for an Unapologetically Kick Ass Life spreadi...
08/02/2022

I am so excited and humbled to see S.H.I.F.T. Powerful Planner and Journal for an Unapologetically Kick Ass Life spreading, especially in my old, peaceful stomping grounds. Thank you Yoga Factory Fort Lauderdale for the support and love.

Thank you Dania Rios De Azpurua  for your support and for sharing S.H.I.F.T with Rivera point.
06/16/2022

Thank you Dania Rios De Azpurua for your support and for sharing S.H.I.F.T with Rivera point.

I remember when I first became a psychologist I told a client to breathe. There she was all upset, short of breath, cryi...
06/02/2022

I remember when I first became a psychologist I told a client to breathe.
There she was all upset, short of breath, crying and thinking her world was ending.... I tried a bunch of fancy breathing tecnhiques I learned in school.
Then I realized, the more I asked her to focus on breathing, the more she freaked out! I stopped all efforts to MAKE HER BREATHE.
So we talked, and put some music on. Becuase you cannot talk or sing without breahting.
I saw the below article and think it is good. Sometimes there are a few ways when we are not freakign out to regulate our breahing.
But, my first all time go to will be to put good music on and SING! Makes you feel better in seconds!

They're the fastest way back to your zen state.

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Cooper City, FL

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