Debby Tang, Ph. D. is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who owns a private practice in Naperville, Illinois. She specializes in counseling families, marriages, and children with special needs within the context of family counseling. Dr. Tang enjoys the emotional engagement and professional accomplishments that come with helping people satisfy their functions in their marriages and in their families.
Prior to seeking a career as a professional counselor, Dr. Debby Tang, was a history major who graduated from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. Upon graduating, Dr. Tang watched many of her peers leave for the United States to pursue graduate degrees. During this time, she also met a Chinese psychologist, who had studied in California. He, in addition to many career assessments and personality tests, greatly influenced her decision to apply to a U.S. school to pursue further education in the field of counseling.
Tang attended Purdue University in Indiana and first obtained a Master’s degree in community and mental health counseling. She then obtained a Ph. D. in Counselor Education. This doctorate not only enhanced her ability to practice in a clinical setting but also gave her the capacity to teach and train other counselors.
Dr. Tang has been practicing in her field for more than 30 years. During this time, her “job description” has varied. While working in the university setting, Dr. Tang counseled four to five clients a day. She would attend various meetings in both individual and group settings. She often met with her supervisors and peers to collaborate on issues. As a clinician, Dr. Tang was also responsible for teaching classes and conducting workshops for students. In addition to working directly with people, she was also responsible for an assortment of administrative tasks related to her work.
“If you really enjoy what you do, it really isn’t stressful”, says Dr. Debby Tang. She is a highly motivated clinician who truly loves what she does. Her only frustration in her job is when she isn’t seeing progress or turnaround in a client’s life. Dr. Tang believes that “As a Christian, our lives are to serve and glorify God. If our lives are a mess, we cannot fulfill that role.” It is her desire to help people come to a place of clarity and healing so that they in turn can fulfill their functions within their marriage, homes, and with God.
Dr. Tang’s short term goals are to attend scheduled teaching engagements within the next few months. As Chinese immigrants move to the United States and their communities grow, so also grows their need for Chinese-Christian places of worship. In that growth also develops a need for “care” ministries that are able to minister to the body of believers. Dr. Tang will be training and equipping laypeople and pastors at a seminary to help them minister to their churches more effectively. She will be doing the same thing in late September for seminary students and laypeople in San Paolo, Brazil. Her long term goals include pursuing a specialty certificate in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. She describes this field of study as “a unique approach to marriage and couples counseling.” Certification for this is a lengthy process that she began in November of 2009.
Dr. Debby Tang enjoys the challenge of her field. It is her observation that because human beings exhibit so many different and complicated emotions, there is rarely repetition on the job. She finds it very satisfying to be able to come alongside someone who is suffering and see that person change and put their lives back together. Dr. Tang is careful to point out that “it is not pleasurable but satisfying…” Her field may not be as economically rewarding as others, and the investment of time and training may be great, but it is clear that Dr. Tang is finding the true rewards of helping others, to be both here on earth and in heaven.
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