Hello and welcome! First, I want to acknowledge you for taking the next step to receiving support and help with whatever you are currently experiencing – that takes courage and energy to take care of yourself. My name is Maureen and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. I have over 5 years of experience working with individuals on various aspects of life, including substance abuse and dependence, addiction within the family dynamic, issues within the family dynamic, various mental health issues, and managing through various life transitions. Specifically, I have experience working in outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment clinics, inpatient substance abuse treatment, college mental health counseling, group counseling, life coaching and care management. My therapeutic approach when working with clients is first and foremost, to meet you where you are. I believe there is a lot of power in allowing the client to discover and utilize autonomy in the counseling process. I will also provide you with concrete tools to begin utilizing, so you can begin to find relief in whatever you are seeking. I utilize techniques and approaches from cognitive-behavioral therapy (identifying the way we think that may be problematic or disruptive, challenging those thoughts and patterns and changing them to change the way behave and feel), person-centered therapy (allowing the client to play the lead role in their therapy, without judgement from the therapist and unconditionally accepting and supporting you despite what you bring to therapeutic experience), and motivational interviewing (beginning with your existing motivation, discovering underutilized existing motivation, and creating new motivations to create change in your life). Again, I acknowledge you for taking the next step to providing relief and taking care of yourself. I view the mind and our mental health equally as important as our physical health and I believe mental health care is imperative to continued health, growth and life. I look forward to working with you!