GET TO KNOW MAYA

Maya Montalto, LMSW

Associate Therapist

Maya Montalto, LMSW, believes that therapy provides an opportunity to better understand yourself, navigate life’s challenges, and create meaningful change. Whether you are feeling overwhelmed, struggling with difficult emotions, facing a major life transition, or finding yourself stuck in recurring patterns, Maya offers a supportive and collaborative space where healing, growth, and self-discovery can take place.

Maya works with adolescents and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, relationship challenges, low self-esteem, identity exploration, life transitions, emotional dysregulation, and chronic stress. She is also committed to providing LGBTQIA+ affirmative care and creating a welcoming, inclusive environment where clients feel safe exploring all aspects of their identity and lived experience.

Her therapeutic approach is warm, compassionate, and insight-oriented, grounded in a humanistic and strengths-based perspective. Maya helps clients understand how past experiences, relationships, and learned patterns may continue to shape their current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. At the same time, she focuses on helping clients develop practical tools to manage distress, improve communication, strengthen relationships, and build greater emotional resilience.

Maya draws from several evidence-based treatment approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), mindfulness-based interventions, and trauma-informed care. She tailors treatment to each individual’s unique needs, strengths, values, and goals, recognizing that no two therapeutic journeys are the same.

Her professional experience includes working with first responders through the FDNY Counseling Services Unit, where she supported individuals coping with trauma exposure, grief, loss, chronic stress, and the emotional impact of high-pressure work environments. She has also provided therapy within private practice settings, working with diverse populations facing a wide range of mental health and life challenges.

Maya is dedicated to ongoing professional growth and continuing education to ensure she provides thoughtful, evidence-based care. Her goal is to help clients gain greater self-awareness, develop healthier coping strategies, build confidence in their ability to manage life’s challenges, and create lasting, positive change. She believes therapy is most effective when it is built on trust, collaboration, and authenticity, and strives to ensure every client feels heard, respected, and supported throughout the therapeutic process.