Maria Suarez, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
She / Her
Puerto Rican roots.
Bronx energy.
Zero poker face.
I did not come to this work from a comfortable distance. I came to it because I have been in the room. The hard room. The one where nobody is performing okay and everything is real. That is the only room I know how to work in.
Send Maria a messageI know the terrain
from the inside.
I provide a safe, nonjudgmental space for you to explore your feelings.Just kidding. I have opinions and I will share them. That is the whole point.
I grew up in New York City. Puerto Rican. Under five feet tall. ADHD before anyone called it that. I spent years in rooms that were not built for people like me, figuring it out in real time. I know what it is to hold it together on the outside while something entirely different is happening underneath.
As a BIPOC therapist I bring something to this work that cannot be trained into someone. I know what it costs to navigate systems and spaces that were built for someone else. The specific exhaustion of translating yourself in real time. That lived experience is not a footnote in my practice. It is the whole point of it.
I built Kalido Therapy because I kept meeting people who had already been failed by the system. Misdiagnosed. Misgendered. Screened for everything except the thing that was actually wrong. Given tools that work for neurotypical people in stable bodies. I wanted to build something different. This is it.
What I am not
I am not here to nod and ask how that makes you feel. I use humor. I will laugh at something that probably should not be funny and then land the clinical point anyway. I have a direct style, a loud personality, and zero interest in performing a version of professionalism that gets in the way of actual work.
What therapy with me actually looks like
Real. Sometimes I will say something and then immediately say wait, hold on, let me back up. I have brain fog. I will also remember the thing you mentioned once six weeks ago that you thought I had filed under irrelevant. I am not linear and I am not going to pretend to be. Neither is healing.
Who I am outside the session
Artist. Storyteller. I make art under the name Happi Anarky because creativity is how I process the world when words are not enough. I am also the person who will leave the house and immediately have to go back for something. Every time. Without fail. My family has given up warning me.
Why this specific work
Perinatal mental health, trans affirming care, and ADHD plus trauma are the places where the system has the biggest gaps. I built my specialization around what the system misses. On purpose.
Not the clinical version.
The real version.
What it feels like to be in the room. Not what it says on a brochure.
I will push back
Gently, directly, and always with your best interest at the center. If you are telling yourself a story that is keeping you stuck I am not going to sit quietly and validate it. That is not what you are paying me for.
I follow your nervous system, not a script
Some sessions are structured. Some go somewhere unexpected. Some we spend on something that seems unrelated and then realize was the whole thing. I trust the process enough to let it be non-linear.
I do not perform neutral
I have opinions. I have warmth. I have a face that shows both. You will know where I stand. You will also always know that the room is yours. Those two things can exist at the same time.
The clinical side.
The work is personal. The training is rigorous. Both matter.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Licensed in Hawaii, Arizona, Washington, North Carolina and South Carolina. Telehealth only.
EMDR, Brainspotting, ART, DBR
Four distinct nervous-system-level trauma approaches. Rare in combination. Rarer still applied specifically to perinatal, trans and neurodivergent populations.
AASECT-Informed
In supervision toward AASECT certification. Working at the intersection of ADHD, trauma history and sexual health. An underresearched and underserved clinical space.
Perinatal Mental Health Specialist
Specialized training in postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, birth trauma, infertility grief, pregnancy loss and the specific intersection of perinatal care and ADHD.
ResponderStrong Train the Trainer
Certified September 2025, Honolulu HFD. On the Hawaii first responder referral list. Trained in the psychological needs of first responders and high-impact professionals.
10+ Years in Trauma Work
Child Protective Services. Youth residential care. Telehealth adult practice. Clinical supervision. The kind of experience that only comes from being in the room when things are hard.
Let’s turn
the page.
Send a message. No forms, no pressure.
I read every message personally.
Telehealth only HI AZ WA NC SC
HMSA Kaiser Ohana AlohaCare OON Superbill