diff --git a/models/user.js b/models/user.js
index 336486a54..8c478fbb4 100644
--- a/models/user.js
+++ b/models/user.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ const mongoose = require('../mongoose');
 const uuid = require('uuid');
 const bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
 const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
+const debug = require('debug')('talk:users');
 
 // SALT_ROUNDS is the number of rounds that the bcrypt algorithm will run
 // through during the salting process.
@@ -435,23 +436,35 @@ UserService.findPublicByIdArray = (ids) => {
  */
 UserService.createPasswordResetToken = function (email) {
   if (!email || typeof email !== 'string') {
+    debug('the email was missing to createPasswordResetToken. you sent %s', email);
     return Promise.reject('email is required when creating a JWT for resetting passord');
   }
 
+
   email = email.toLowerCase();
 
+  debug('about to look up user by email %s', email);
+
   return UserModel.findOne({profiles: {$elemMatch: {id: email}}})
     .then(user => {
 
       if (user === null) {
+        debug('user was null on createPasswordResetToken lookup');
         // since we don't want to reveal that the email does/doesn't exist
         // just go ahead and resolve the Promise with null and check in the endpoint
         return Promise.resolve(null);
       }
 
+      debug('found the user! %s going to create the token', JSON.stringify(user, null 2));
+
       const payload = {email, jti: uuid.v4(), userId: user.id, version: user.__v};
+
+      debug('created payload %s', JSON.stringify(payload));
+
       const token = jwt.sign(payload, process.env.TALK_SESSION_SECRET, {expiresIn: '1d'});
 
+      debug('successfully created the token %s', token);
+
       return token;
     });
 };
diff --git a/routes/api/user/index.js b/routes/api/user/index.js
index 1765809ad..05ebf7b61 100644
--- a/routes/api/user/index.js
+++ b/routes/api/user/index.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const path = require('path');
 const resetEmailFile = fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../../views/password-reset-email.ejs'));
 const resetEmailTemplate = ejs.compile(resetEmailFile.toString());
 const authorization = require('../../../middleware/authorization');
+const debug = require('debug')('talk:users');
 
 router.get('/', authorization.needed('admin'), (req, res, next) => {
   const {
@@ -104,6 +105,8 @@ router.post('/update-password', (req, res, next) => {
 router.post('/request-password-reset', (req, res, next) => {
   const {email} = req.body;
 
+  debug('/request-password-reset body %s', JSON.stringify(req.body, null, 2));
+
   if (!email) {
     return next('you must submit an email when requesting a password.');
   }
@@ -112,6 +115,7 @@ router.post('/request-password-reset', (req, res, next) => {
     .createPasswordResetToken(email)
     .then(token => {
       if (token === null) {
+        debug('back in the route. the token was null for some reason %s', token);
         return Promise.resolve('the email was not found in the db.');
       }
 
@@ -125,10 +129,15 @@ router.post('/request-password-reset', (req, res, next) => {
           rootURL: process.env.TALK_ROOT_URL
         })
       };
+
+      debug('about to send a simple email with the options %s', JSON.stringify(options, null, 2));
+
       return mailer.sendSimple(options);
     })
     .then(() => {
 
+      debug('password reset email sent successfully');
+
       // we want to send a 204 regardless of the user being found in the db
       // if we fail on missing emails, it would reveal if people are registered or not.
       res.status(204).end();
@@ -136,6 +145,8 @@ router.post('/request-password-reset', (req, res, next) => {
     .catch(error => {
       const errorMsg = typeof error === 'string' ? error : error.message;
 
+      debug('there was an error sending your email %s', error);
+
       res.status(500).json({error: errorMsg});
     });
 });