Today we’d like to introduce you to Debi Lynes.
Hi Debi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My daughter wrote this for my 70th birthday….I was so humbling and meaningful and encompassed a broad overview of some of my story
.Dr. Debi Lynes has never been particularly interested in staying in one lane.
Designer. Therapist. Television host. Writer. Speaker. Wellness advocate. Podcast creator. Animal lover. Grandmother. Curious human being. Somehow, she has woven all of those roles together into a life and career centered around one enduring question:
How do we help people feel more connected…..to themselves, to each other, and to the spaces they live in?
For more than four decades, yikes, Debi has quietly built a career that lives at the intersection of design, psychology, health, and human connection. What makes her work stand out is not simply the breadth of her accomplishments ( although they are impressive ) but the warmth and humanity behind them. Whether she is redesigning a home, counseling a client, interviewing a physician, or speaking to an audience about stress and sleep, her focus always circles back to the same idea: people thrive when they feel safe, seen, curious, and connected.
That philosophy now drives her newest and perhaps most personal venture, Mind Your Health, a wellness-focused podcast and media platform built around four pillars: Mind • Muscle • Mouth • Medicine. The mission is simple but deeply needed in today’s world: translate confusing health information into approachable, empowering, and entertaining conversations people can actually use in their daily lives.
Each episode features respected national and regional experts discussing topics ranging from anxiety and sleep to aging, nutrition, emotional health, movement, and longevity. But unlike many health platforms, Mind Your Health is intentionally warm and conversational. “Quality of information over quantity of information,” Debi says often. The goal is not fear or overwhelm. It is clarity, curiosity, and practical wisdom.
That focus on curiosity is something Debi embodies personally. At a stage in life when many people talk about slowing down, she seems to be accelerating creatively. While others fear aging, Debi talks about it almost like an invitation. “Age is simply a number,” she says. “My experience is the more trips around the sun I have, the more open, curious, and excited for growth I become.”
That mindset has become part of her larger message about reinvention and rebranding throughout life. Debi believes people are far more adaptable than they realize. Careers evolve. Identities shift. Families grow. Bodies change. Interests expand. And instead of resisting those transitions, she encourages people to remain emotionally flexible and engaged with life. “In essence,” she explains, “the opposite of depression is not happiness — it is connection.”
That belief was shaped not only by her professional training, but by decades of lived experience.Long before wellness became a buzzword, Debi was already exploring the relationship between environment and emotional wellbeing. Since 1984, she has been one of the Lowcountry’s leading interior designers, creating high-end residential and commercial spaces rooted not just in beauty, but in lifestyle, safety, functionality, and emotional comfort.
At the same time, she pursued a parallel path in counseling psychology, eventually becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor and later earning advanced expertise in Facilitative and Supportive Design and the psychology of aging. Few professionals in the country have combined these disciplines in quite the way Debi has.
That integration led to the creation of Freudian Slipcovers, her uniquely original concept blending interior design, psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, and evidence-based supportive design principles. It is both playful in name and deeply serious in purpose: helping people understand how their environments influence stress, sleep, behavior, healing, and quality of life.
Years before terms like “neuroaesthetics” or “wellness design” entered mainstream conversation, Debi was already talking about how lighting affects anxiety, how orientation within a room impacts a person’s nervous system, and why beauty, nature, comfort, and safety are not luxuries but psychological needs.
Her work eventually expanded into Aging in Place, where she has become a nationally recognized Certified Aging in Place Specialist and the author of the Forever Home Resource Guide. Her philosophy is refreshingly human-centered: aging should not mean giving up dignity, beauty, independence, or joy. Instead, homes can evolve with people across the lifespan, supporting both physical safety and emotional wellbeing.
Of course, many people throughout the Lowcountry know Debi not only as a designer or therapist, but as a familiar face on television. As the creator and host of WHHI-TV’s Lynes on Design, she introduced audiences to the idea that homes could be both stunning and psychologically supportive. She later became the longtime host of Carolina Women, helping lead thoughtful and lively conversations about health, style, business, wellness, and modern life. Along the way, she also hosted Healthy Living, helped launch lifestyle channels focused on wellness and travel, and served as editor and contributor for several regional magazines.What makes Debi effective in media is the same quality that makes her effective in counseling and speaking: people feel comfortable around her. She has the rare ability to make complex topics feel approachable without making them simplistic. Audiences sense her genuine curiosity about people and their stories.
And while her resume is extensive, ask Debi what matters most and the answer comes quickly.
Her family. She is most proud of her three children, ten grandchildren, and the wonderfully chaotic collection of therapeutic animals that fill her life with laughter and grounding — including chickens, ducks, a cockatoo, two dogs, a ferret, and three bunnies.
It somehow feels perfectly on brand.
Because ultimately, the story of Dr. Debi Lynes is not really about titles or accomplishments. It is about evolution. About staying engaged with life. About remaining curious. About creating spaces ,both physical and emotional where people can feel healthier, safer, more connected, and more fully themselves.
And perhaps that is the real lesson she hopes people take away from her work:There is no expiration date on growth.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Roads are never smooth. Life is messy….That is when resilience kicks in . I don’t ignore the struggles. At 72, I have had some “doozies” AND each time I learned to pick myself up and move forward….and yes most of the time it is messy. It is still messy.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I can not separate professional life from career, personal life from leisure….they are all connected for me.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Life for me is a risk and I am a calculated risk taker.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.debilynes/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debilynes/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MindYourHealthPodcast
