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About Maria Szabo
Maria Szabo is a limited permit mental health counselor at Mind Body Seven who provides psychotherapy to children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. She brings a uniquely rich background that blends clinical training with more than three decades of experience in education, curriculum design, and working closely with adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges.
Maria approaches therapy through a developmental and holistic lens, viewing life’s difficulties as opportunities for growth, insight, and transformation. She believes the therapeutic relationship itself is a powerful tool for healing and works collaboratively with clients to explore patterns, cultivate perspective, and develop meaningful day-to-day practices that support fuller living.
Conditions Treated
Maria works with individuals and families navigating a wide range of concerns, including:
- Anxiety and depression
- Trauma and complex trauma
- ADHD
- Autism spectrum–related concerns
- Substance use disorders
- Personality disorders
- Relationship and interpersonal challenges
- Family and couples concerns
She has extensive experience supporting adolescents and families from diverse cultural, social, and historical backgrounds.
Therapy Approaches & Modalities
Maria uses an integrative, depth-oriented approach to therapy that is tailored to each client’s needs, values, and life context. Her clinical work draws from:
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Existential therapy
- Narrative therapy
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Trauma-focused therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Her work is always grounded in an empathetic, humanistic, and client-centered therapeutic relationship.
Professional Background & Experience
Maria is in her third year of clinical practice as a psychotherapist and brings over 35 years of experience working with adolescents in educational settings. She spent many years designing and teaching socially and emotionally informed curricula, primarily in the humanities and writing, and has a longstanding interest in how storytelling, reflection, and meaning-making support emotional development.
She has developed multiple writing curricula for social-emotional learning and wrote her graduate thesis on student writing and emotional development. Throughout her career, Maria has been drawn to working with students who were quiet, resistant, or struggling, helping them find voice, agency, and connection through words and relationships.
Education & Training
MA, Mental Health Counseling
Hunter College
MA, Special Education
Lesley University
BA, Psychology
Bowdoin College
Therapeutic Style & Philosophy
Clients and colleagues describe Maria as warm, responsive, and deeply attentive. She brings curiosity, intellectual depth, and emotional presence into her work, drawing from psychology, literature, philosophy, and history to support insight and healing.
Maria believes in the regenerative capacities of the human psyche and spirit and sees therapy as both a science and an art—one that unfolds through the therapeutic dyad, group process, and shared exploration.
Outside the Therapy Room
Outside of her clinical work, Maria finds grounding and renewal through movement, including Iyengar yoga, dance, and especially flamenco, which is a deep personal passion. She is a first-generation Hungarian American with a strong connection to her ancestry and a deep interest in the history, mythology, and geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe—perspectives she values in cultivating understanding and connection with others.
Next Steps
If you’re interested in working with Maria, you can request an appointment through our calendar below. Our team will help determine whether this is the right fit for your needs.