Maritza Alvarez-Pena, LMFT
California · 23 years in practice
Maritza Alvarez-Pena is a bilingual licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) based in California.
License and registration
- LMFT, California
- 138711 · expires March 2027
- NPI
- 1508015215 · national provider identifier
- Years in practice
- 23
- Languages
- English, Spanish
Details are as listed on the therapist's public professional profile. You can check the license with the issuing state board, and the NPI with the national registry.
About Maritza
Maritza Alvarez-Pena is a bilingual licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) based in California. She brings 23 years of clinical experience to sessions and speaks English and Spanish. She focuses on helping people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and parenting challenges.
Maritza uses clear, straightforward conversations to help people make sense of hard moments. She listens for what matters most and helps people name patterns that get in the way.
Background and approach
Sessions are practical and paced to each person's needs. Her approach draws from several methods, including Existential Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and attachment-focused work. She helps people face questions about meaning, values, and relationships while building skills to manage strong emotions.
Therapy can include short skill-based work and deeper reflection depending on what someone needs. With a background in psychology counseling and long clinical experience, Maritza has worked across many concerns such as abandonment, adoption and foster care issues, attachment struggles, chronic illness, caregiving stress, and communication problems. She aims to make therapy understandable and useful in daily life.
Maritza supports people who want steady, compassionate help making changes. She helps clients set clear goals, try new behaviors, and track what helps. Sessions may be held in English or Spanish to fit client preference.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Maritza lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Grief
- Parenting issues
- Depression
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Maritza names
- Existential Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist lists and does not check training records.
Online support
How her approaches translate to online therapy
Existential Therapy focuses on questions about meaning, choice, and responsibility. Online sessions can use these conversations to help people clarify their values and make decisions that feel authentic to them. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, teaches practical exercises to notice thoughts and commit to actions that match values; these exercises work well in video or text formats and can be practiced between sessions.Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current bonds and emotional responses. In online sessions this can mean talking through relationship histories, identifying triggers, and trying new ways of relating with guidance and reflection from the therapist. Together these approaches allow both skills work and deeper reflection on relationships and purpose.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist collaborates with each person to decide what feels most helpful based on goals and preferences. That means adjusting session focus over time and choosing techniques that fit the person's life and pace.
Online therapy offers practical benefits like flexible scheduling and reduced travel time. Video calls let people read facial cues and practice new skills in real time, phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a busy day, and live chat or text messaging are useful for short check-ins or when someone prefers writing. These options help people maintain continuity of care and fit therapy into everyday life.
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Questions people ask
What concerns does Maritza work with?
She helps people with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, grief, and parenting challenges. Additional focus areas include attachment issues, adoption and foster care, chronic illness, caregiving stress, and communication problems.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her style is direct and compassionate, blending practical skill building with reflective conversation. Sessions aim to clarify values, manage emotions, and change unhelpful patterns.
How long has she been practicing?
She has 23 years of professional experience working in mental health and related settings. That experience informs a range of approaches and practical techniques.
What are her credentials and where is she based?
She is a licensed marriage and family therapist - LMFT - licensed in California and practices from that state.
Which languages are supported during sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Spanish to accommodate bilingual clients.
Can people outside the U.S. work with her?
She does not accept international clients at this time; sessions are provided to clients in California under her license.
What formats are available for sessions?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to provide flexible ways to connect.
How are costs handled and how do I begin?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability and uses a subscription model that can be canceled at any time. To start, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a session.
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