Maria Siddiqui ATR-BC, LPCC, NCC

I work with clients carrying trauma that didn't start with them, patterns of hypervigilance, self-sacrifice, or emotional suppression passed down through family systems, often across generations of survival or displacement. This work involves tracing where a pattern began, understanding what it protected, and deciding what to carry forward and what to release. It's slow, relational work, not about blaming family, but about understanding the full context of what was inherited.

I work with clients whose distress is shaped, in part, by systemic conditions, racism, marginalization, or structural inequity, not just individual psychology. This means naming the real external pressures a client is navigating, rather than treating symptoms as purely internal. Therapy incorporates a culturally responsive, decolonial lens that takes context seriously: your exhaustion or anxiety may be a reasonable response to real conditions, not evidence something is wrong with you.

I work with immigrant, first-generation, and second-generation clients navigating the gap between the culture they were raised in and the one they operate in daily, pressure to achieve, guilt around individuation, and the exhaustion of constant code-switching. This includes clients balancing family expectation with personal identity, and those grieving a belonging that never fully arrived in either culture. Therapy here honors cultural context and the client's right to define their own path.

As a board-certified art therapist (ATR-BC), I integrate creative process into talk therapy when it serves the work, not as a separate add-on, but as another way to access material that's hard to reach through words alone. This is especially useful for clients whose experiences predate language, or whose patterns live more in the body and image than in narrative. Art therapy is offered as an option, not a requirement; many clients never use it, and that's fine too.

I am trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), an evidence-based approach for processing trauma that hasn't resolved through talk therapy alone. I use it selectively, when a client's history and readiness make it a good fit, not as a default protocol. EMDR can be especially effective for singular traumatic events or specific stuck points, and I integrate it within the broader relational, trauma-informed frame that guides the rest of our work together.

I take cultural context seriously, not as a box to check, but as a lens that shapes how symptoms present, how families define success, and what healing is even allowed to look like. This includes working with immigrant and first-generation experiences, faith identity, and the specific pressures of high-achievement or intergenerational households. I don't assume a single cultural framework fits everyone, and I stay curious about what your specific background means for your specific patterns.

As a board-certified art therapist (ATR-BC), I integrate creative process into talk therapy when it serves the work, not as a separate add-on, but as another way to access material that's hard to reach through words alone. This is especially useful for clients whose experiences predate language, or whose patterns live more in the body and image than in narrative. Art therapy is offered as an option, not a requirement; many clients never use it, and that's fine too.