About Maritza
Maritza Alvarez-Pena is a bilingual licensed marriage and family therapist who speaks English and Spanish. She brings 23 years of experience and a calm, straightforward style to sessions. She commonly helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and parenting concerns.
Her work focuses on what people need in day-to-day life. She uses practical conversation and strategies to reduce worry and improve coping. Sessions are aimed at small, doable changes rather than big theory talks.
Background and approach
Maritza trained in counseling and holds a Master’s degree in Psychology Counseling and the California LMFT credential. She has spent more than two decades working with adults on relationship struggles, communication problems, and emotional pain from loss or past hurt. Her approach blends cognitive behavioral techniques with acceptance and values-based work.
Attachment ideas are used to understand how early relationships shape current reactions. She also draws on client-centered and existential perspectives to tailor sessions to each person’s goals. People who choose Maritza often want a therapist who listens without judgment and helps them practice new habits.
She offers short-term tools for immediate relief and longer-term work for deeper patterns. Services are provided in California and are offered in both Spanish and English.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on helping people notice difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to actions that match their values. It can help when anxiety, avoidance, or chronic worry get in the way of living the life someone wants. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thought and behavior and teaches specific skills to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is useful for people who want concrete strategies to manage panic, fear, or low mood. Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early relationship patterns affect current connections and responses, which can be helpful for people struggling with trust, abandonment fears, or communication problems.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods make sense based on goals, preferences, and how someone responds in the first sessions. Adjustments are common and the plan can shift as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video helps when face-to-face interaction matters, phone works well for lower bandwidth or hands-free conversations, and text or chat can fit brief check-ins or busy schedules. These options let people fit sessions around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping the focus on skill practice and real-life change.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- 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
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English, Spanish
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