About Me
Making the decision to initiate change in your life, is the first step to getting to where you want to be. The alliance between the counselor and client sets the foundation to reach a place of growth and healing, therefore making it the key agent to change. I strongly believe that a collaborative approach to treatment, ensuring that the client feels invested as a direct participant in their own journey, is the best means to achieve goals in therapy. As an eclectic therapist, I incorporate a variety of therapeutic principles and philosophies in order to create the ideal treatment program to meet the specific needs of the client. Primarily using a strength-based, trauma-informed approach to therapy, I work with clients to identify and master skills that will make attaining identified goals in therapy achievable.
I earned a Master's in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago, and have been in direct clinical work for over 6 years. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), I have had experience working with a wide variety of clients ranging from adolescents to geriatrics. My experience includes providing therapeutic services through settings such as inpatient psychiatry, community mental health, internal medicine, addiction treatment centers, and a University counseling center. Through these professional settings, I obtained an array of clinical experience working with various mental health diagnoses, though my expertise lies within treating depressive, anxiety, trauma, and adjustment disorders.
I am a culturally sensitive, bilingual therapist (English/Spanish) and have had experience working with multi-cultural populations within and outside the United States.
If you find yourself in a position to initiate this journey, towards change, I would be honored to join you.
Specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Anger management
- Depression
Addictions , Family conflicts , Grief , Intimacy-related issues , Eating disorders , Sleeping disorders , Parenting issues , Self esteem , Bipolar disorder , Coping with life changes , Compassion fatigue , Aging and Geriatric Issues , Read more...
Clinical approaches:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Mindfulness Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy
Services Offered
Messaging
Phone
Video
Languages
English
Spanish
Licensing
LCSW #149015398 (Expires: 2021-11-30)
LCSW #12051 (Expires: 2021-08-31)
LCSW #LW61077727 (Expires: 2021-11-01)
Reviews
Maria is the best counselor I have ever worked with. Her sessions are all in the evening which works better than during the day.
Maria is the best. She’s like my best friend in my head. I feel comfortable talking to her about anything. Literally anything. She never judge me. I appreciate the tools, resources and information I get from every session. Will definitely recommend her to anybody
Maria is amazing! She is an excellent listener and I have never felt judged by her. She reads between the lines and helps formulate attainable strategies for meeting therapy goals.