Your body has
been keeping
score.
Trauma-informed therapy for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities including perinatal women, trans youth and adults, and women with ADHD who are done explaining themselves to people who should already know.
“Clinician-warm. Bronx-direct.
Absolutely no poker face.”
Who picks up this book.
Three specific people. If you see yourself here, you found the right place.
You love this baby. And you are also not okay.
Pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, and loss are some of the most neurologically brutal seasons a body moves through. If you have ADHD, your risk of postpartum depression is five times higher and almost no one screens for it. For BIPOC women, the system adds another layer of not being heard, not being believed, and not being seen. This is the room where you do not have to be grateful.
Read moreYour “too much” was always the right amount. Wrong rooms.
I specialize in the overlap nobody talks about: ADHD, trauma history, and sexual health. These do not live in separate boxes. Using EMDR, Brainspotting, ART, and DBR, we work at the nervous system level, not just the mindset. I am AASECT-informed and in supervision toward certification. Culturally responsive care for BIPOC clients is built into how I practice, not added on top.
Read moreYou do not have to educate me. We start from you knowing who you are.
I work with trans youth and adults navigating gender, identity, and the specific trauma that comes from a world that makes you fight to exist. Gender affirming. Trauma-focused. No gatekeeping. BIPOC trans clients are especially welcome here. The intersections of race, identity, and trauma are not separate conversations in this practice.
Read moreMost therapists talk about trauma.
Fewer actually go there.
I use four nervous-system-level modalities that are rare in solo practice and rarer still with perinatal, trans, and neurodivergent populations. These are not interchangeable. Each does something different. We use what your nervous system actually needs.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Reprocesses traumatic memories so they stop hijacking your present. Evidence-based and highly effective for complex trauma and PTSD.
Brainspotting
Brainspotting Therapy
Uses your visual field to locate and process trauma stored deep in the brain and body. For when words are not enough.
ART
Accelerated Resolution Therapy
Rapidly reduces the emotional charge of traumatic images and memories. Often produces real relief in fewer sessions.
DBR
Deep Brain Reprocessing
Works with brainstem-level responses that other modalities do not always reach. For the deepest layers of shutdown and dysregulation.
Maria Suarez, LCSW
Puerto Rican roots. Bronx energy.
Zero poker face.
“I am not here to nod. I am here to actually help.”
I am Maria Suarez, LCSW. Puerto Rican, Bronx-raised, ADHD-brained, and genuinely incapable of a poker face. I started my career in the rooms nobody wants to be in and I stayed because that is where the real work is. I built this practice for the people the system kept missing. Turns out that is a lot of people.
As a BIPOC therapist I understand firsthand what it means to navigate spaces that were not built for you. That shapes everything about how I practice.
Also seeing therapists as therapy clients. Because helpers need help too.
Meet MariaAlso serving first responders and high-impact roles.
On the Hawaii first responder referral list. ResponderStrong certified. Whether you are navigating burnout, postpartum after returning to duty, or a trans identity in a culture that was not built for you, this practice sees you.
Let’s turn
the page.
Send a message. No forms, no pressure.
I read every message personally.
Telehealth only • HI, AZ, WA, NC, SC