Deidre began her career on a medical-surgical unit at Piedmont Hospital, and then shifted to a mental health focus. She spent ten years in various roles at psychiatric facilities, with an emphasis on the inpatient care of psychiatric disorders across the lifespan. During this time, she was the co-founder of a K-8 charter school in Georgia, where she also worked as a school nurse. While earning her master's degree in nursing education, she began working for the University System of Georgia, where she later obtained her current nursing position as a lecturer at the University of North Georgia.