About Margarita
Margarita Araiza-Johnston offers a practical, attachment-focused approach to therapy. She uses several methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and parenting concerns. Margarita speaks English and Spanish and brings ten years of clinical experience to her work in New Mexico.
She trained in social work, earning a Master of Social Work from Tulane University. Early in her career she worked in hospice care and served as a suicide and crisis counselor.
How Margarita works
Those roles shaped her calm, steady style when people are facing big losses or sudden change. Margarita relies on Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how relationships shape emotions and behavior. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and Narrative Therapy to help people reframe difficult stories.
Sessions tend to focus on practical steps and clearer thinking so daily life becomes easier to manage. Her background includes work with domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, family systems, and mediation training in family law. She also offers bilingual therapy and has experience supporting LGBTQ concerns and fertility or intimacy-related issues.
This mix of clinical roles informs a broad view of family and parenting challenges. People come to Margarita for help with grief, anger, self-esteem, career strain, and compassion fatigue among other concerns. She emphasizes clear communication, concrete tools, and collaboration so clients can try new ways of coping between sessions.
Margarita lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Margarita works with
The areas below are the ones Margarita selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Family conflicts
- Parenting issues
- Depression
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 10 |
| Languages | English, Spanish |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | New Mexico |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How attachment work and CBT translate to online therapy
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early and current relationships affect feelings and behavior. Online sessions can be used to notice interaction patterns, process emotions, and rehearse new ways of relating. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors; it lends itself to practical exercises and homework that can be shared between sessions. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centers on emotions in relationships and can help people name and shift difficult emotional responses during conversations.Margarita works collaboratively to find the right mix of approaches. She will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and adjust methods as needed. Figuring out what actually helps is part of the process rather than a one-size-fits-all decision.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls are useful when face-to-face interaction helps the work. Phone sessions can fit into a break at work or be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or messaging allow shorter check-ins and ongoing support between longer sessions. These options make scheduling easier and help accommodate different routines and needs.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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