MARIA C. LEO, MA, LMFT

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

704-489-3580

maria.leo@caatl.net

Maria graduated from Davidson College with her BS in Psychology in 2011. She later went on to obtain her Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Converse College where she was inducted as a member of the Delta Kappa Academic Honor Society. After undergraduate school, Maria spent several years abroad serving/volunteering in the United States Peace Corps where she led trainings and groups for youth and teachers focused on various mental health and other emotional heath issues. She also spent time in both China and South Korea teaching English and cultural issues with both children and adults.

Maria’s previous clinical experience includes interning at the inpatient psychiatric facility Broughton Hospital and working at the Spartanburg County Detention Center providing individual and group therapy. Maria also worked at Emerge Family Therapy Center providing individual, couples and family therapy and ultimately has transitioned her professional journey into providing couples/marital, family and individual therapy in private practice settings in the Lake Norman area. Maria has been an amazing member of our team since 2021.

Maria works with adults of all ages (18+) providing both couples and/or marital therapy, individual therapy and family therapy. She truly enjoys relationship work with couples from a variety of backgrounds and has other particular interest in working with individuals struggling with issues including but not limited to grief/bereavement, anxiety, stress, trauma, life transitions, self-esteem issues and LGBTQ+ related, gender identity and woman’s issues. Utilizing a variety of evidence based treatment modalities including Cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, family/marital, person-centered, strength-based, narrative and motivational interviewing, Maria works collaboratively with her clients on devising a treatment plan and goals to help them meet their desired outcomes in the most efficient and productive manner. She meets clients where they are in their process and together they work as a team on exploring the issues, finding solutions and achieving greater peace and content with their lives or relationships. Maria is an ardent safe space ally for not only the LGBTQ population but all clients in any vulnerable or marginalized populations.

Maria is a compassionate, warm, proactive, extremely ethical, highly professional, dedicated and skilled clinician who puts her clients at ease quickly with her calming yet empowering nature. She is both empathetic and open minded, kind, funny and holding a deep passion for her work as a therapist in which she takes great pride in producing excellent clinical outcomes.

Maria offers day and some evening appointments both *in-person and through telehealth*. Maria is an in-network provider for BCBS (except Blue Value and Blue Local), United Behavioral Health, Cigna/Evernorth, Aetna, Medcost (unless mental health benefits are managed through CBHA) and offers private pay and sliding scale options as well. Feel free to contact Maria either by phone or email to set up your initial session or to schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation to determine if your needs are a good fit with her experience, expertise and skillsets. Maria does her absolute best to respond to all calls and emails within 24 hours M-F.

When not working, Maria cherishes spending time with family, friends, her husband and precious infant daughter.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

(704) 489-3580

maria.leo@caatl.net