Maria Slaughter, LISW, LCSW, CSW

Maria Slaughter is a licensed social worker with seven years of clinical experience. She holds LISW and LCSW credentials and works with adults who are facing major life stressors. Maria aims to create a warm, accepting space where people can name goals and take small steps forward.

Maria’s background includes work with the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS, hospice populations, and people experiencing homelessness. She has helped people through grief, end-of-life concerns, and other intense losses. That work taught her to combine practical problem solving with steady emotional support.

Her approach centers on the individual in front of her. She uses client-centered methods that start from a person’s strengths. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness strategies to help reduce anxiety, shift unhelpful thinking, and manage stress in daily life.

Sessions often focus on skills that can be used between meetings. That might mean trying a thought-record, practicing a short mindfulness exercise, or planning small behavior changes. Maria also uses solution-focused techniques to set clear, achievable goals and track progress over time.

People commonly seek Maria’s help for anxiety, depression, relationship and intimacy concerns, self-esteem issues, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, and trauma or abuse. She also supports those navigating adoption and foster care issues, sexuality questions, and life-purpose work. Maria offers services in English and accepts international clients.

Practical approaches for online healing

Maria frequently uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and shift unhelpful thought patterns. CBT focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and can be helpful for anxiety, depression, and stress. She also uses Client-Centered Therapy, which emphasizes listening, empathy, and building goals that matter to the individual. This approach helps people feel heard and guides the work at their pace.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Maria discusses options with each person and adjusts methods based on their needs, goals, and comfort. Together they choose strategies to try and check in on what helps most as therapy progresses.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video is useful for fuller conversation and visual cues, phone calls work well when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed, and messaging or chat can support brief updates or ongoing reflection between meetings. These options give flexibility while keeping the focus on practical skills and steady progress.