About Maria
Maria Ward offers calm, straightforward support for people facing stress, anxiety, mood shifts, grief, and major life changes. She speaks English and Spanish and brings 13 years of clinical experience as a California licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT). Maria aims to create a space where people can talk honestly and learn new ways to cope.
Maria uses practical tools from several evidence-based approaches. She helps people notice what matters most, challenge unhelpful thinking, and strengthen their emotional connections.
How Maria works
Sessions focus on small steps clients can try between meetings so progress feels real and manageable. She has guided people through trauma, abuse, addictions, and intense emotions like anger and despair. Maria also supports those facing parenting stress, relationship struggles, body image concerns, and life transitions such as divorce or caregiving demands.
Her background includes working with attachment issues, adoption and foster care concerns, and mood disorders such as bipolar and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. Maria describes people as the experts in their own stories and positions therapy as a collaborative effort.
She listens, reflects, and offers tools from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and emotionally focused approaches when they fit the person’s goals. Practical matters such as session format and language are flexible. Video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text messaging are available, and international clients may be served.
Getting started involves a short matching questionnaire and scheduling based on availability.
Maria lists 13 ways of working on the entry:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
What Maria works with
The areas below are the ones Maria selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Anger management
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 13 |
| Languages | English, Spanish |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify personal values and take manageable steps toward them. It focuses on noticing thoughts and feelings without getting stuck and is useful for stress, anxiety, and coping with life changes.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. Sessions teach skills to challenge unhelpful thinking and build new habits, which can help with depression, anxiety, and impulse-related concerns.
Attachment-Based Therapy centers on emotional patterns that formed in close relationships. It aims to improve how people relate to others and to their own feelings, which supports intimacy, communication, and healing after relational trauma.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Maria will work with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, preferences, and the issues they want to address. She adapts techniques over time based on what is helping.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video works well for deeper conversations and visual cues. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited. Text and chat are helpful for quick check-ins, brief coping strategies, or when someone prefers not to be on camera. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule or different time zones while keeping care consistent.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
Book with MariaWe will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.
Common questions
What kinds of concerns does Maria address?
What is Maria's therapeutic style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she licensed?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What session formats are available?
How does payment and cost work?
How do I begin working with Maria?
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.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. Entries are not assessed or endorsed by this directory.
Other entries for stress, anxiety
Supportive LCSW helping people build strength and clarity
Practical, trauma-aware therapy for everyday life
Practical, relational therapy for life transitions