Maria Collins, MSSW, LSW
Therapist
Approachable, supportive, and collaborative — Maria creates a space where clients can speak honestly without feeling judged or pressured to have everything figured out.
Meet Maria
Maria Collins, MSSW, LSW, is a licensed social worker at Grounding River Counseling. She’s approachable, supportive, and collaborative, and she works to create an environment where clients can speak honestly without feeling judged or pressured to have everything figured out.
Maria helps clients better understand the patterns, experiences, and relationships affecting their lives. She uses a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach and adapts therapy to the needs of each person.
Maria earned her Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University, where she specialized in Advanced Clinical Practice. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Arts from Penn State University. Her training includes outpatient psychotherapy, community mental health, disability services, group therapy, and interdisciplinary behavioral healthcare.
Maria sees therapy as a process clients and therapists work through together. She helps clients identify what matters most, recognize the strengths and resources available to them, and develop practical ways to move toward the changes they want to make.
Who Maria works with
Maria works with children and adolescents of all ages, adults, and older adults. She offers individual and group therapy, with clinical interests in ADHD and neurodivergence, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, OCD, perinatal and caregiver mental health, and substance use with co-occurring mental health concerns. She welcomes LGBTQ+ clients, diverse family structures, and people from all backgrounds.
ADHD
Support for attention differences, sensory needs, and navigating a neurotypical world.
Anxiety & depression
Practical tools and steady support for worry, low mood, and stress that lingers.
Trauma, grief & loss
A paced, compassionate approach to difficult experiences and the grief that follows.
Mood Disorders
Help managing intrusive thoughts with evidence-based strategies.
Support for parent and caregivers
Support through parenting and caregiving your loved ones.
Trauma informed care
Affirming support for people rebuilding safety and trust.
Relationships & life transitions
Navigating relationship challenges, major changes, identity, and sense of self.
Her approach
Maria works from a trauma-informed, strengths-based perspective. She believes people do well when they can, and that therapy should help clients better understand the patterns, experiences, and relationships affecting their lives. She is direct when appropriate, and she adapts her approach to each client. Her work often incorporates different frameworks with the goal of helping clients recognize their own strengths and take practical steps toward the goals they want to accomplish.
Therapeutic modalities
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Strengths-based therapy
- Motivational interviewing
- Trauma-informed care
- Person-centered therapy
- Mindfulness
- Culturally sensitive practice
Credentials at a glance
- Licensure
- Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in Pennsylvania. Clinical Supervision by Amanda Ducsak, LCSW.
- Education
- Master of Science in Social Work, Columbia University; Bachelor of Integrative Arts, Penn State University
- Experience
- Outpatient psychotherapy, community mental health, disability services, group therapy, and interdisciplinary behavioral healthcare