About Maria
Maria Caruso is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 20 years of experience helping people through difficult life moments. She works from New Jersey and focuses on practical ways to manage stress, relationships, grief, and major life changes. Her tone is direct and compassionate, aimed at people who want clear steps and steady support.
Her background includes work with medical patients and caregivers, and experience in corporate settings guiding people through transitions.
Background and approach
She draws on multiple approaches to meet each person's needs rather than using a single method for everyone. Sessions often include talking, targeted exercises, and homework like journaling or creative tasks. Maria emphasizes a collaborative relationship.
She treats counseling as a working partnership where both people have roles. That means setting clear goals, agreeing on steps, and adjusting the plan as progress is made. In practice she uses methods that help change thought patterns, tell and reframe personal stories, and focus on immediate problem-solving.
These tools are used to address anxiety, depression, addictions, trauma, parenting stress, caregiver burnout, relationship problems, and other concerns listed in her specialties. People can expect straightforward explanations and concrete skills they can use between sessions. The work balances emotional processing with action steps, such as communication practice, coping strategies, and planning for life transitions.
Maria aims to offer hope and practical guidance so people can move forward.
Approaches and how they work online
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person’s experience and priorities. The therapist listens closely, reflects what is said, and helps the client find their own solutions; this approach is useful for building self-esteem and navigating life changes.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It uses practical exercises to shift unhelpful thinking and to practice new behaviors, which can help with anxiety, depression, and stress management.
Narrative Therapy invites people to tell their stories and then reframe parts that feel stuck or limiting. It can be helpful for relationship patterns, identity questions, and coping after loss.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to identify goals and try methods that fit their needs and preferences. Plans are adjusted over time based on what helps most.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls let people work face-to-face when visual connection matters. Phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth or camera use is a problem. Live chat and text messaging work well for shorter check-ins, homework review, or steady support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to maintain continuity during life transitions.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Grief
Also listed
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- New Jersey
- Languages
- English