About Maria
Maria Abada is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) based in New Jersey with 16 years in the mental health field. She focuses on helping people who are overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, relationship strain, grief, and life changes. Her manner is warm and supportive and she emphasizes steady, practical steps rather than quick fixes.
She has worked in many settings over her career, including residential programs, partial care, outpatient clinics, in-home services, and addiction treatment.
Background and approach
That range means she has experience with both short-term challenges and more complex, long-standing difficulties such as trauma and abuse. In recent years she has also supported people facing perinatal and postpartum struggles. Her approach begins with the client and adapts to each person’s situation.
She uses client-centered and psychodynamic ideas to understand personal history and patterns. She also draws on cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing for practical skills and coping strategies. Sessions focus on clear goals and small, manageable steps.
Conversations aim to identify unhelpful thoughts, build emotion regulation skills, and practice new behaviors. Maria emphasizes cultural context and personal values when shaping treatment plans. She encourages a gradual, sustained approach to wellbeing, comparing progress to improving physical health over time.
People who prefer a collaborative therapist who blends listening with concrete strategies may find her style helpful.
How her approaches work online and what to expect
Client-Centered Therapy centers the conversation on the person and their goals, offering space to talk and be heard while the therapist follows the client’s lead. It helps when someone needs empathy and a place to sort feelings and priorities.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing them with real-life actions. It is useful for anxiety, mood changes, and learning practical coping skills.
Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce rumination and stress. It pairs well with CBT when managing worry or strong emotions.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that fit their needs, goals, and comfort level. That choice may change over time as progress is made.
Online formats offer flexibility and multiple ways to connect. Video calls let sessions feel close to an in-person visit, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be useful for shorter check-ins, and text-based messaging helps maintain continuity between appointments. These options make it easier to schedule care around work, childcare, or other demands while still using evidence-informed approaches.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Maria commonly help with?
How would she describe her therapeutic style?
What is her professional background?
What credentials and location are on record?
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Are international clients supported?
What session formats are available?
How does cost and starting therapy work?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Anger management
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family problems
- Grief
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 16 years
- Licensed
- New Jersey
- Languages
- English
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