Maria Mantilla, MA
pronouns: she|her|hers
Maria joined Collaborative Insight Counseling Associates (CICA) as a Psychotherapist in September 2024.
Maria earned her Master of Mental Health Counseling with a specialization on the holistic track from Lesley University. Her main interest in approaching mental health from a comprehensive perspective, was actually observing and learning from her family’s integrative perspective of physical and mental health with emotions. Through her experience, Maria has noticed how the body reacts and presents differently for each of our emotions. This fascinated Maria, leading to her desire to focus on exploring body awareness in relation to our emotional world.
During her time at Lesley, Maria’s courses integrated theoretical approaches that explored the body’s relationship to emotions and provided techniques for addressing emotions through experiential methods. Additionally, Maria was drawn to narrative therapy, which she found valuable for fostering curiosity and openness while adapting to each client’s unique story and needs.
Maria prioritizes building a supportive and empathetic therapeutic relationship, providing clients with a safe space to express themselves and fosters a sense of validation and trust. She integrates mindfulness techniques into her practice to help clients develop greater self-awareness and presence. With a holistic approach, Maria addresses various aspects of well-being, including emotional, mental, physical, and social dimensions. Combining a person-centered, humanistic, and strengths-based approach, she creates an environment of curiosity and safety, allowing clients to explore and discover their unique capacities and strengths. Maria’s holistic approach to therapy means she views each client as a complex interplay of mind, body, and spirit rather than just focusing on isolated symptoms or issues. She recognizes that mental health is deeply interconnected with physical well-being, emotional state, and even spiritual or existential aspects of a person’s life.
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“I have learned that sometimes we forget that feeling our emotions is a skill that requires development. While experiencing emotions might seem innate, we often need to learn how to approach them with acceptance, compassion, and care.”
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Before joining the practice, Maria gained experience working in nonprofits, where she engaged with clients across a broad age range and from various cultural backgrounds. Her experience included working with clients as young as 4 years old and teens with different ethnicities and backgrounds, providing support in an after school program. She provided individual therapy for the children as well as co-leading group activities for pre-teens. During her second internship, she supported patients ranging from young adults to the elderly. Maria's work involved providing individualized care and adapting her approach to meet the specific needs of each client based on their age, background, and unique circumstances. She excels at creating a strong therapeutic bond, ensuring that each client feels heard, understood, and supported.
This diverse exposure enabled her to adapt and apply a range of therapeutic styles to meet the needs of each client. Maria specializes in working with clients dealing with depression, anxiety, mood disorders, life transitions, grief, boundary setting, and issues related to attachment styles.
Fun Fact: Maria likes watching knitting YouTube videos to follow the patterns and she ended up making a knitted sweater for her dog!
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