Maria Abada, LPC

Maria Abada is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in New Jersey. She brings 16 years of experience in mental health and focuses on helping people who are struggling with anxiety, stress, depression, grief, anger, and self-esteem concerns. Maria also supports people facing family problems, relationship strain, postpartum depression, trauma and abuse, and challenges around pregnancy and childbirth. She sees female clients only and offers care geared toward their needs.

Maria has worked in many settings including residential programs, partial care, outpatient clinics, in-home services, and addiction treatment. That variety gave her exposure to a wide range of difficulties and levels of need. Over the last five years she has spent additional time helping people with perinatal mental health concerns.

Her approach combines practical skills with an emphasis on the person in front of her. She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. She also uses client-centered methods to build a respectful, collaborative relationship and mindfulness to help people manage strong feelings.

Maria describes her style as warm and supportive. She works with clients to set clear, realistic goals and then take steady steps toward them. She favors steady, long-term work over quick fixes and encourages consistency in building emotional health.

Her personal experience with loved ones who lived with mental illness shapes her commitment to this work. That background helps her understand how hard it can feel to reach out for help and why steady, compassionate support matters.

How her approaches fit into online therapy

Maria often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice thoughts that lead to stressful feelings and to practice different ways of thinking and behaving. CBT is practical and goal-oriented, and it can be used to address anxiety, depression, and many everyday challenges.

She also draws on Client-Centered Therapy, which focuses on building a respectful, nonjudgmental relationship and listening closely to what matters most to the person. That approach helps people feel understood and involved in decisions about their care. Mindfulness Therapy is another tool she uses to teach simple practices for grounding and emotion management when stress is high.

Finding the best approach is part of the work. She will collaborate with each client to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. This is a joint process and adjustments are made as progress unfolds.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people use visual cues and longer sessions, phone can be useful when bandwidth is limited, live chat allows shorter check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives and to keep momentum between meetings.