Maria Rivera, LCSW

Maria Rivera is an LCSW licensed in North Carolina with 15 years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical ways to change thoughts and everyday habits that get in the way of feeling steady. Maria speaks plainly and aims to make the first steps into therapy feel manageable for people under stress or facing big life changes.

She works with common struggles like anxiety, depression, and bipolar mood concerns. She also helps people dealing with grief, trauma and abuse, addiction, and anger. Relationship strain, communication problems, parenting stress, and body image are included among her usual areas of focus.

Maria combines several straightforward approaches to tailor sessions to each person. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps identify and reshape unhelpful thinking patterns. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy supports making choices in line with personal values. Motivational Interviewing and Solution-Focused Therapy support readiness to change and set small, achievable goals.

Her style is collaborative and strengths-based. She treats the person as the expert on their life while offering tools to shift daily routines and thought patterns. Sessions emphasize skills people can try between meetings to build momentum.

Maria has worked in a variety of settings over her 15-year career, bringing practical experience with complex issues like co-morbidity, chronic illness, and adoption and foster care concerns. She offers care in English and practices from a perspective that centers on what each person needs now.

How her approaches fit into online therapy

Maria uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change thinking and behavior patterns that maintain anxiety, depression, or unhelpful habits. CBT focuses on concrete exercises and experiments that people can practice between appointments. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is also part of her work; ACT helps people clarify what matters most and take committed actions even when difficult thoughts and feelings are present. It is useful for coping with stress, grief, and life transitions.

Deciding which approach to use is a shared process. She will work with each person to choose methods that match goals, preferences, and everyday routines. That can mean combining ACT and CBT techniques or using motivational interviewing to increase readiness for change. The therapist treats the person as the expert on their life while offering tools and options.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the specific session formats before booking since formats are not listed here. Online options can make it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. Talk with her about how to structure sessions so they work with your day-to-day life and goals.