Maria Clara Salazar-Pretto , LCSW

Maria Clara Salazar-Pretto is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years of experience who focuses on women's issues among a range of life concerns. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, grief, relationship and intimacy-related struggles, and career or parenting pressures. Maria Clara speaks English and Spanish and works with adults at different life stages.

Her style is direct and practical. Sessions aim to identify specific goals and build small, usable skills. She uses a client-centered approach that keeps the person's needs and values at the center of the work.

Maria Clara blends cognitive behavioral techniques with solution-focused strategies to change unhelpful thinking and find steps that move a person forward. She also draws on dialectical behavior ideas and mindfulness practices to teach emotional regulation and present-moment awareness.

She trained in the United States and has worked in hospitals, health centers, and private agencies over two decades. That range of settings informs how she supports people through life changes, trauma and abuse, caregiver stress, eating and food-related concerns, and compassion fatigue.

In therapy she uses validation, active listening, and clear feedback. Sessions are intended to feel practical and respectful while helping people open new ways of coping. Her work is grounded in helping people become a more resilient version of themselves.

Approaches that translate well to online care

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to each person's values and goals, helping them set priorities and feel heard. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and teaches practical skills to change them, which works well in online sessions for anxiety, depression, and stress.

Maria Clara also uses solution-focused methods that concentrate on identifying small, achievable steps toward a client's goals. Choosing an approach is a collaborative process; the therapist will ask about needs, preferences, and priorities and together they will try methods that seem most likely to help. Adjustments are made along the way if something isn't working.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to offer flexibility. Video is useful for longer conversations and visual connection, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat works for quick check-ins, and text messaging is helpful for brief notes or ongoing support. These options let people fit therapy into busy schedules and vary the style of contact based on what feels most practical.