About Me

Hi, I'm Maria, founder and owner of River Street Counseling Services, PLLC. I serve as a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, Registered Play Therapist™, and National Certified Counselor with over 12 years of counseling experience in a variety of settings including children’s advocacy centers, family violence agencies, in-home settings, and private practice. My expertise and specialty areas include treating trauma in childhood and/or adulthood, intimate partner violence, and traumatic stress through counseling, play therapy, EMDR, mindful movement, and yoga. 

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I am also an Associate Professor at a local university and teach graduate-level content and clinical courses. I supervise counselors-in-training as they serve communities with an array of presenting concerns. My additional service and involvement in several professional organizations, along with my educational background and credentials, are listed below.

 

Clientele

I work primarily with youth and adult individuals. I also provide counseling/play therapy for parent-child dyads and offer group counseling on topics related to trauma resilience, healthy relational functioning, mindful movement, and relational parenting.

 

I am passionate about helping clients address concerns such as trauma in childhood and adulthood (e.g., ongoing trauma; challenges with traumatic stress, complex trauma, or developmental trauma; recovery from childhood or recent trauma), depression and anxiety, and adjustment issues (e.g., life transition, new phase/stage of life). 

 

Counseling Approach

My approach to counseling and play therapy consists of collaboratively building the counseling relationship and assisting clients with attuning to the totality of their experiences. I use a relational lens, which considers healthy connections and disconnections, attachment patterns and relational templates, and the impact of sociocultural contexts on clients’ lived experience. I also use a body-based framework that emphasizes self-compassion, empowerment, and strengths of clients as well as attending to the nervous system. I work with clients to examine factors that get in the way of their personal and relational goals and overall wellness. For trauma work, I use a variety of trauma-informed practices.