Meet Maria

My name is Maria. I am both an Eastern European immigrant born during the time of the Soviet Union and a Veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps. My life experiences inspired me to want to learn how to take care of my body without risk of injuring or serious illness, so I went to college to study exercise science and nutrition. But then one day my life path took a sharp detour when I discovered this thing called “trauma” and realized that it’s an awfully painful kind of thing that we’ve all experienced at some point in our lives - wow! I was listening to Bessel van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score while mopping up before bar tending one day when I decided I wanted my time and effort to go into healing trauma instead of helping people numb out their trauma by serving them up a stiff one. So off I went to pursue my doctorate in Clinical Psychology in the Fall of 2017.

During my years of grad school, I kept a sharp eye out for anything I could learn that went off the beaten path. I got trained in this wonderful thing called the Comprehensive Resource Model (link: https://www.newsweek.com/2017/03/31/trauma-ptsd-therapy-comprehensive-resource-model-treats-untreatable-572367.html) and began to see huge shifts in my clients. Through our work, we process the things that happened that shouldn’t have happened, the things that should have happened that didn’t, conflicting feelings about needing, loving, or trusting people who hurt us, and how our lives have been impacted by these things. Clients who work with me find that their ability to trust their own judgment improves, they stop being so hard on themselves, and they find themselves feeling confident enough to end the therapeutic relationship when they’ve completed the healing that they had set out to do. They learn how to let go of their symptoms, no longer needing to use them in order to fight, run away, freeze, avoid, submit, fawn, or dissociate from uncomfortable feelings that naturally come up over the course of life. And best of all, they stop feeling like there is something innately wrong with them.

University Credentials

• Antioch University New England, Doctor of Psychology (candidate) in Clinical Psychology

• Antioch University New England, Master of Science in Clinical Psychology

• Keene State University, Bachelor of Science in Physical Education & Exercise Science

Professional Social Media:

• Linkedin

Professional Licenses and Certifications

• Vermont: Rostered Psychotherapist (Non-Licensed, Non-Certified)

• Comprehensive Resource Model®: Level 2 trained