Shakira Maldonado , LMHC

Shakira Maldonado is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) who focuses on helping adults and teens manage stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship concerns. She creates a calm, nonjudgmental space where people can talk through difficult feelings and take small steps toward change.

Shakira uses straightforward, evidence-based methods to help clients build coping skills. Conversations center on what is happening now and on practical tools that can reduce overwhelm. She places emphasis on self-esteem, emotional regulation, and coping with life changes.

Her work also addresses attachment and abandonment concerns, codependency, communication problems, and boundaries. Shakira supports people dealing with divorce and separation, body image struggles, caregiver stress, and feelings of emptiness. She also has experience with issues that affect first responders.

Shakira has three years of clinical experience and holds LMHC credentials in Florida and New York. She offers sessions in English and provides several remote formats to fit different schedules.

Therapy with her tends to be collaborative and paced to each person’s needs. New clients complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions. Sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging using a subscription that can be canceled at any time.

Approaches that translate well to online care

Shakira commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques to help people spot unhelpful thinking patterns and practice small behavior changes that reduce anxiety and depression. She also incorporates mindfulness-based skills to teach grounding and attention strategies that can lower stress and improve regulation.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. She works with each person to match methods to their goals and preferences, and will adjust tools and pace as needs change over time. Clients and the therapist decide together which skills to focus on in sessions and between meetings.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility for busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues help, phone sessions can fit a quick check-in or lower bandwidth situations, and live chat or text messaging work well for brief updates, skill practice, or when typing feels easier than speaking. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, school, or caregiving responsibilities.