Female Therapists in Scotts Valley, CA

Do you feel stuck in your current relationship? Whether you are trying to decide if you want to stay in a committed relationship due to addiction, are adjusting to life parenting young children or are empty nesters navigating life transitions-these can be challenging to negotiate. My passion is understanding how early life attachments and childhood trauma impact present relationships. Often, partners cannot see how their original family system complicates communication and daily life. This is especially true with trauma from addiction or mental illness. Let me support you either individually or as a couple now.

I support clients to live happy and meaningful lives and help them make changes that bring about well-being and transformation. I have a passion to support individuals, couples and families through many different life transitions (from adjusting to college, marriage, divorce, births, loss, retirement, coping with illness, and caregiving). I help clients with a range of relationship issues—from marriage/romantic partner conflict, communication issues in relationships, resolving issues in friendships, co-parenting, parent-child issues, loss of relationship & grief work, contemplation of separation, and exploring unhealthy patterns.

I have been told that I bring hope to situations, experiences and behaviors that often feel hopeless. Specializing in working with families, children, adolescents and parents, I work collaboratively with client/s to identify and develop goals, and a road map of how we will know that these goals are being met as we work together. I work actively with clients using their knowledge and strengths towards reaching their goals.

With 35 years focused on recovery in Codependency and Addiction, most people seek my services due to suffering the affects of being in relationship a Narcissist or Sociopath. When you are ready, you can choose a completely new way of feeling, thinking and acting that comes directly from your truth, which I can teach you to find. I also work with people who have had Near Death Experiences, who’s numbers now count in the millions. Most NDE experiencers need a safe, supportive and nonjudgmental ally to help make sense of the profound journey they have found themselves on. An aware heart creates a new earth for that person. For real.

Therapy is much more than just "feeling better." It is about the process of understanding how you think, how you feel, and how you can discover the resiliency you have within yourself. As a therapist, it is always an honor to have my clients place their trust in me as I watch them grow. I work with issues including depression, anxiety disorders, cutting, and suicidal ideation. I also love to use my art therapy credential into sessions when appropriate because let's be honest, sitting on a couch talking about feelings is not for everyone!

I OFFER TELEHEALTH SESSIONS. My goal as a therapist is to help you move through challenges and get to a better place in life. Changing the past may not be possible but we can focus on how to make your future more fulfilling. If you're looking for support and direction through a difficult situation or you're ready to make changes in how you live your life, please feel free to email me for the fastest response.

Even in moments when what we were born with (i.e., nature), how we were raised (i.e., nurture), or our capacity to act in our best interests (i.e., abilities) may seem to come up short in dealing with life's challenges, each of us can compassionately challenge ourselves to get to where we want to be. A psychotherapist can be a partner in the journey to understanding and accepting what needs to be done, and taking the necessary steps for change to happen.

You’ve read all the self-help books, listened to podcasts, and have been in weekly therapy, but still feel like you are just trying to survive between sessions. You feel like your relationships are really suffering because your traumatic experiences get in the way of feeling safe with others. You continue to feel triggered by things that you thought you had worked through. All this work has not gotten to the bottom of your symptoms, difficulties, or negative self-talk. You need help right now and you don’t want to continue to spend months or even years in weekly traditional talk therapy.

Anxiety is awful: the constant worries, feelings of fear and discomfort in your body, and the continual striving for peace of mind that seems just out of your grasp. Telling yourself to just "calm down" doesn't help. For many sufferers, the behavioral effects and consequences of anxiety; including poor relationships, hair pulling or skin picking, low self esteem, shame, and/or obsessive tendencies can be devastating.

I believe that healing and growth are innate human capacities which can become overwhelmed by powerful and/or chronic stressors. My priorities for our healing relationship are to ensure a sense of safety for you in the therapy process, as well as collaborativity. I have developed a process that I call Developmental Mindfulness to promote wellness on the somatic, emotional, and cognitive levels of human experience. I integrate somatic modalities, archetypal psychology, art therapy, play therapy, the fundamentals of qigong and yoga, Internal Family Systems, narrative strategies, cognitive strategies, and nutritional psychology.

Are you feeling stuck like stagnating water of a creek that no longer flows? Or are you struggling in your relationships? Certain seasons test us to our core. My experience as a therapist and as a client shows me that we have the capacity to recover our vitality. I am here to support your journey of healing and growth. Even after traumas, losses, oppression, and experiences that are too painful for our bodies and spirits to carry alone, there is a path of healing that can re-energize your life and spirit. While you are the expert on your life, I am here to facilitate awareness, self-compassion and inner shifts. Your new life awaits!

Perfectionism, procrastination, social withdrawal, and oppositional behaviors can be a common part of child development in today's culture of hyper-achievement combined with technology. Child and adolescent behaviors viewed as problematic are frequently communications to those closest to them about a difficulty they are experiencing in their world. I work with children and with families who are struggling to understand their child's academic, behavioral, and emotional struggles.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist and have been serving the needs of children, adolescents, and adults for over 20 years. I grew up in the Santa Cruz area and I am thrilled to be serving our beautiful community. I provide both therapy and psychological testing to children and adults in order to help my patients grow into their full potential. Oftentimes, problems that seem insurmountable are due to the ways in which we perceive them. Feeling as though we lack the power to change keep us locked in old, unproductive patterns. Understanding what is holding you back is often the key to growth, change, and greater life satisfaction.

I love working with people to help them build a deeper relationship with themselves – their inner world and emotional core. By learning how to connect with and attend to what lies within, clients develop the skills to lean into personal challenges, transform them, and understand their deep yearnings in the process. In turn, clients become empowered and build lives that are aligned with who they are and what they want for themselves. I strongly feel that therapy is a collaborative process, and the “work” a client engages with in their day to day life is also so important.

Life can be hard at times especially while navigating it alone. Maria understands the importance of having a therapist that provides a safe place to process during these difficult times. She is dedicated to helping individuals, couples, and families cope with life challenges with compassion and empathy. She uses evidence-based therapy such as CBT, DBT, solution focused, narrative, and emotion focused, depending on what they need. It has been incredibly fulfilling for her to see clients make progress and reach their goals for therapy.

You deserve to be respected as a unique individual, regardless of your age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. I believe that each and every person that comes to counseling has a unique life experience and unique concerns that they bring into the counseling room. My goal is to meet each client where they are, and work along side them to help them achieve the goals they have come to counseling hoping to achieve. I enjoy working with individuals, couples, and families, drawing from a variety of research-based treatment modalities based on the needs of the particular client.

I am a compassionate, professional psychotherapist with an individualized way of treating each client. I believe each person has the strength inside themselves for change and healing. It is my role to identify your personal style and help you find the clarity you need to make necessary life changes. In doing so I utilize many theoretical approaches including; psychodynamic, existential/humanistic, solution focused and cognitive behavioral.

My focus is to help adult individuals heal, recover, and feel empowered. I specialize in treatment for those recovering from eating disorders, trauma, depression, intimacy and attachment disorders, and codependency. Additionally, I provide gender-affirming care. It is my philosophy that each one of us has our own wisdom and capacity to heal. I am of the belief that no one is broken, nothing is missing, and people do not need to be fixed. Instead we need to learn the skills to trust ourselves and strengthen our ability to extend compassion inward so that we can recognize that we have been complete within all along.

If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, a challenging transition, loss, trauma, or relationship issues, call me for a free 20 minute psychotherapy consultation. Along with being a licensed marriage family therapist, I am also a certified hypnotherapist. I am compassionate, and skilled to help you move through your path of healing. My sessions are through HIPPA compliant "TeleMentalHealth" technology or online therapy, so I'm as close as your phone or computer.