Deborah Svec-Carstens, JD, MTS, is a writer, book coach, spiritual director, and former lawyer whose work explores healing after trauma, embodiment, and spirituality. Her debut memoir, Toward the Light: A Year in Paris (September 2026), traces her search for meaning and connection in the months after a traumatic assault in Paris in her early twenties. Her essays have appeared in bioStories, the Brevity blog, and the Des Moines Register, her work is featured in several anthologies, including two forthcoming collections, and she has received recognition from Writer's Digest, WOW! Women on Writing, and Memoir Magazine. In 2024, she shared her story before an audience of more than 1,200 people as part of the Des Moines Storytellers Project. Deborah writes The Spiral Staircase on Substack and offers workshops and presentations. She lives in Central Iowa with her spouse, where she writes and accompanies others in their journeys of healing and story.
