Maria has over 40 years of mental health experience. She is a Certified Master Accelerated
Resolution Therapy (ART) Practitioner and a Certified Advanced ART Practitioner. Maria has
been practicing ART since 2011. She has been a facilitator/trainer since 2017. She graduated
from Springfield College with a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, and is a licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist. She is an approved supervisor and Clinical Fellow of the
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Maria is also a former Board Member
of the Massachusetts Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Maria has been the Director
of the Brightside Family Stabilization since 1993. In November of 2009, the Children's
Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) services of In-home Therapy and Therapeutic Mentoring
were added. Maria also has a private practice where she utilizes ART in a systemic framework.
Maria works with each individual member of a family, including the adults and children, using
ART techniques, to overcome an identified area by the clients, that maybe a factor in their family
interactional functioning.
Before coming to Brightside, Maria received extensive cognitive and behavioral training as a
Director at Goodwill Industries Psychological Service Department. Here she was responsible for
the placement of individuals with cognitive and emotional impairments into supportive
community-based living arrangements, as well as psychological testing and developing and
implementing behavioral management plans within the framework of family system theory.