- Stress and anxiety
- Trauma focus
- Parenting challenges
About Maria
Maria Ward is a California licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) with 13 years of clinical experience. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, anger, addictions, relationship and family concerns, and other life changes. Maria speaks English and Spanish and offers care to international clients as noted in her profile.
She frames therapy around practical tools and the client’s own strengths. Sessions focus on building skills to manage mood shifts, reduce anxiety, and cope with grief or loss. Maria also supports people working through parenting challenges, intimacy issues, and communication problems.
Maria uses several evidence-based approaches in her practice. She draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and take action. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to notice patterns of thinking and change unhelpful behaviors. Attachment-based ideas guide work on relationship patterns and connection.
Her background includes focused work with trauma, and she lists experience using a trauma-focused treatment modality. That experience is combined with years of helping people with addiction, codependency, and caregiver stress. Maria describes collaborating with clients to identify goals and practical next steps.
She encourages straightforward, goal-oriented sessions that include skill practice and reflective conversation. For Spanish speakers she can offer sessions in Spanish as well as in English. To start, readers are asked to follow the site’s booking flow and complete the intake questionnaire to schedule an initial session.
How Maria’s approaches translate to online work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying what matters to a person and taking small behavioral steps toward those values. It helps with anxiety, low mood, and feeling stuck by emphasizing committed action rather than only changing thoughts.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It involves noticing unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms like panic, depression, or anger.
Attachment-Based Therapy attends to how early relationship patterns shape how people connect now. It can help with intimacy problems, communication issues, and recurring relationship tensions.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Maria will collaborate with each person to decide which methods feel most useful for their goals and circumstances, and she adjusts methods based on progress and feedback.
The biography does not list specific online session formats. Before booking, confirm which formats are offered. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, allow short check-ins when time is limited, and reduce commute time. They also let people continue work with a licensed professional when location or travel would otherwise make that difficult.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
13+ years
Listed in
California
Languages
English, Spanish
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, depression, anger, addictions, relationship and family concerns, and related challenges listed in her profile.
What is her general approach in sessions?
She uses practical tools from approaches like ACT, CBT, attachment-based methods, and emotionally-focused ideas to help people notice patterns and try different actions.
How long has she been practicing?
She has 13 years of professional experience working with adults across a range of concerns.
Is she a licensed therapist in the United States?
Yes. She holds a California LMFT credential and practices as a licensed marriage and family therapist in California.
Which languages are available for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Spanish.
Does she work with international clients?
Yes. Her profile indicates she accepts international clients.
How are sessions scheduled and what formats are offered?
Session formats are not specified in the biography. Please confirm current session options before booking through the site.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
Online talk therapy through BetterHelp is for adults aged 18 and over and is not emergency care. If you are in danger, use the emergency numbers. Find someone else by name.