Maria Capitelli, LMFT (CA 46128)

I have been a therapist for more than twenty years and feel incredibly grateful to get to do work that is meaningful. I believe in the transformative potential of therapy that is rooted in the therapeutic relationship between client and clinician where the client is fully seen without judgement and is safe to explore all of who they are. I was called to my work as a therapist by my lived experience with the power of holding space for a person’s story, the life-changing way that being fully seen can change how someone walks through the world. Before I knew what theories were I was client-centered, this was strengthened and enriched through my training which brought me solution-focused, strengths-based and narrative therapies along with many other influences. Whether I am sitting with an individual or a couple, I believe that the relationship between my clients and myself is where the work starts and from this relationship we venture out. When the therapeutic relationship is present the work can be hard and tense, joyful and revelatory, but always grounded in a secure connection and honest communication. Sometimes clients come with a specific question, challenge or stuckness that they want to explore and sometimes there is a feeling of needing to be heard and the journey winds its way from there. No matter the starting place, I am honored to walk with my clients as they do the work they need to do, lending my compassion, curiosity, directness, expertise and experience to their own knowing to find the way forward. You are best served when you can bring your whole self to the sessions and I encourage clients to integrate areas they may have felt hesitant to share in past therapeutic environments. These have included connection to angels and spirit, gender identity, religion (organized and not), non-traditional relationship configurations, fertility (whether carrying the child, being the non-carrying parent, chosen single parenting, adoption), immigration status, race, sexual orientation and more. Therapy is a non-reciprocal relationship, it is a space for you, where you guide the work and I support, encourage, challenge and witness the path you are on. Over the course of my career I have worked in settings including community-based organizations, crisis response, college campuses, teaching in masters programs and private practice. I have worked with individuals and families, couples, systems and students. My practice now focuses on couples and individuals from late teens to end of life.