A bit about how I work
You've worked hard to get here. But something still feels off.
Your life probably looks to other people like it's working just fine.
You're capable, you have a respectable life, maybe a career and accomplishments you're proud of, and time and time again, you've proven that you can handle anything thrown your way.
And despite that, you feel anxious, disconnected, and dissatisfied. You're exhausted and tired of finding yourself repeating patterns that make you reflect and go, "Dammit, I know better, so why don't I do better?"
You're doubting your own judgement and you're doubting yourself, even after all the work you've done on yourself.
You may have even tried therapy before. But you're not sure it ever went deep enough to address what actually needed to move to help you come to trust yourself again.
That is exactly the work I do.
Meet your therapist
I'm Dr. Maria Niitepold, a licensed psychologist and EMDRIA-trained trauma and somatic therapist. I work with adults who pride themselves on being capable and self-reliant, and who are usually taking care of everyone else while struggling underneath it. People who are full of insight and emotionally defended. People who have read the books, understand their patterns, and are still stuck in them. People who learned there's no room in their relationships to express themselves, and either hide what they're feeling and needing, or don't fully trust their own judgment about it anymore.
My approach is body-based and trauma-focused. I use EMDR, Brainspotting, and the Comprehensive Resource Model. These methods work on the level of the nervous system rather than the thinking mind, because that is where most of what you are carrying actually lives. When we use talk therapy, we build insight and understanding. When we use these modalities, we bring about change.
I see clients in person in Gulf Breeze, Florida, and via telehealth across New York and 44+ PsyPact states.
My own story
How I came to this work
My path to trauma work began in 2010, when I enlisted in the Marine Corps as an immigrant who wanted to serve a greater purpose in this country. I wanted to test myself, belong to something larger than me, and take advantage of all the opportunities that come with military service.
An injury ended my time in the military sooner than I would have liked and left me with questions: How did my body fail me? How was it that my body was so strong in some ways and so fragile in others at the same time? How would this shape me going forward, and how do these experiences shape the way any of us go through life and connect with ourselves and other people?
That question stuck with me while I was working towards my undergraduate degree, and during the hours I spent setting up the bar at my part time job while my bluetooth speaker played psychology audiobooks. Two of them stayed with me: The Body Keeps the Score and The Center Cannot Hold. My plan had been to become a personal trainer. But after listening to those books, I remember thinking: this is what I want to do.
My work isn't about helping bodies get stronger or just listening to people talk. It's about understanding how our minds protect us, adapt, and find their way back toward wholeness.
In 2017 I began graduate training at Antioch University New England, earning both my Master's and PsyD in Clinical Psychology. I trained in community mental health, college counseling, and the Veterans Affairs system, settings that showed me, again and again, how resilient people become when they finally feel safe.
Who I help
Who I Work With
01
The High-Achiever Running on Empty
You have built a career that works. The title, the output, the reputation for being the person who handles things. But underneath the competence there is a flatness you cannot explain: a sense of going through the motions, or an emptiness that success keeps failing to fill. You are not burned out from working too hard. You are exhausted from holding so much together for so long.
03
The Survivor of Difficult and Narcissistic Relationships
You have spent years in relationships, romantic, familial, or both, that left you doubting your own perception. You know, intellectually, that what happened was not your fault. The knowing has not been enough to make the patterns stop: the hypervigilance, the self-erasure, the way certain interactions still send your nervous system somewhere you cannot easily come back from. Understanding it has not yet healed it.
05
The Veteran Carrying It All Alone
You did what was asked of you. You came home. And yet something did not fully come back with you, or something came back that was not there before. Hypervigilance, emotional distance, the feeling of being unreachable even to the people who love you most. You do not need someone to thank you for your service. You need someone who understands what it actually cost.
02
The Person Talk Therapy Didn't Quite Reach
You have done the work. You have sat across from good therapists, built real insight, understood your patterns with clarity. And you are still having the same reactions, the same shutdowns, the same moments where your body does something your mind cannot override. You are not resistant to healing. You simply have not yet worked at the level where the pattern actually lives.
04
The LGBTQ+ Adult Seeking Real Understanding
You are not looking for a therapist who is just going to affirm you. You are looking for one who understands the specific, cumulative weight of navigating a world that was not built with you in mind. The chronic self-monitoring, the family wounds, the trauma that does not always have a single identifiable event but has shaped everything anyway. You want to work with someone who does not need it explained from the beginning.
06
The Caregiver Who Has Nothing Left to Give
You have spent so long being the reliable one, the parent, the partner, the colleague everyone leans on, the friend who always picks up, that you have lost track of what you actually need. Asking for help feels uncomfortable at best. You are not here because you have fallen apart. You are here because you are tired of being the only one holding everything together, and some part of you knows that is not sustainable.
If this sounds like you, you're not imagining it.
How it works
How We Work Together
Starting is pretty simple
The consultation is a short phone call, about fifteen minutes, where you can ask me your questions, get a senses of how I work, and we decide together whether this is the right fit. I will be honest with you about whether I think I can help, and if I am not the right fit, I will let you know and do my best to provide referrals.
The therapy I do is not the kind where we spend months collecting history before orienting towards working towards your goals. From the first session, we discuss what to expect, anticipated challenges, and get the groundwork laid to be ready to work with your nervous system. Sessions are active, body-focused, and structured around real change, not just understanding what you went through. You will not sit across from me retelling the story you may have already told previous therapists multiple times already. We go where the work actually needs to happen.
I see clients in person at my Gulf Breeze office and virtually across Florida, New York, and 44+ states through PsyPact. Sessions are 55 minutes, and all telehealth uses a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform. I accept Aetna, Florida Blue, and VA Community Care for eligible veterans, as well as private pay. I can provide a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement.
Credentials
Education
Doctor of Clinical Psychology (PsyD), Antioch University New England, 2023
Master of Clinical Psychology, Antioch University New England, 2020
Bachelor of Science, Exercise Science, Keene State College, 2016
Licensure
Licensed Psychologist, Florida #PY12736 and New York #027962
Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT), PsyPact E.Passport #22072
Advanced Training
EMDR: EMDRIA-trained
Brainspotting: Phase 1 and Phase 2
Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
Clinical Hypnosis
Clinical Experience
Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Biloxi, MS and Pensacola, FL
Manchester VA Medical Center, Manchester, NH
Harbor Care Health and Wellness Center, Nashua, NH
Connecticut College Student Counseling Services, New London, CT
Antioch University Psychological Services Center, Keene, NH