Makia Washington, LMSW

Professional Introduction

Makia P. Washington, LMSW, is a Licensed Master Social Worker with over 25 years of experience serving individuals, youth, and families across diverse community, child welfare, educational, and social service settings. She brings extensive professional experience together with a compassionate, strengths-based approach to help clients navigate anxiety, depression, grief and loss, family and relationship challenges, life transitions, emotional stress, self-esteem concerns, and periods of uncertainty.

Makia understands that life can sometimes feel overwhelming. Changes in relationships, family responsibilities, grief, work or school stress, and unexpected transitions can leave people feeling anxious, emotionally exhausted, or unsure of what to do next. Her goal is to provide a safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental environment where clients can talk openly about what they are experiencing while developing practical tools for moving forward.

Throughout her career, Makia has worked with people from a wide range of backgrounds and life circumstances. Her professional experience includes leadership in community-based social services, child welfare, foster care, diagnostic reception centers, non-secure detention settings, and educational programs. This broad background allows her to bring a strong understanding of family systems, crisis situations, community resources, resilience, and the complex circumstances that can influence mental health and emotional well-being.

My Approach to Therapy

Makia’s therapeutic approach is compassionate, collaborative, strengths-based, and client-centered. She believes therapy should provide clients with a confidential space where they feel genuinely heard, supported, and respected.

Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Makia works to understand each client’s individual experiences, strengths, challenges, relationships, and goals. Together, she and her clients explore what may be contributing to emotional distress, identify existing strengths and resources, and develop realistic strategies for creating positive change.

Makia recognizes that seeking therapy can be especially difficult when someone has spent significant time caring for others, managing family responsibilities, surviving stressful circumstances, or simply trying to keep everything together. She helps clients slow down, identify what they need, strengthen coping strategies, and begin making decisions that better support their emotional well-being.

Her professional bio specifically describes her work with individuals and families experiencing anxiety, depression, relationship and family concerns, grief and loss, suicidal thoughts, self-esteem challenges, difficulty developing healthy relationships, and the need for stronger coping skills.

At the heart of Makia’s work is the belief that people already possess strengths that can serve as a foundation for healing. Therapy becomes an opportunity to recognize those strengths, build upon them, and develop the confidence and skills needed to navigate life with greater clarity and resilience.

Specialties & Areas of Focus

• Anxiety and excessive worry

• Depression and mood-related concerns

• Grief and loss

• Life transitions and adjustment difficulties

• Stress management

• Family conflict and complex family dynamics

• Relationship concerns

• Developing and maintaining healthy relationships

• Self-esteem and self-confidence

• Emotional regulation

• Coping skills development

• Feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or uncertain

• School and academic stress

• Work-related stress

• Parenting and family stress

• Crisis and safety concerns

• Suicidal ideation and emotional distress

• Personal growth

• Resilience building

• Navigating major changes and unexpected life circumstances

Therapeutic Modalities

• Strengths-Based Therapy

  Makia uses a strengths-based approach to help clients recognize abilities, resources, resilience, and successful coping strategies they may overlook when experiencing emotional distress. Treatment builds upon these existing strengths while helping clients develop additional skills for navigating challenges.

• Client-Centered Therapy

  Client-centered therapy emphasizes empathy, respect, collaboration, and the belief that each individual is an active participant in their own healing. Makia creates an accepting environment where clients can explore their experiences without judgment and determine goals that are personally meaningful to them.

• Solution-Focused Interventions

  Makia incorporates practical, goal-oriented strategies that help clients identify what they would like to change, recognize resources that are already available to them, and develop manageable steps toward improvement.

• Supportive Therapy

  Through active listening, validation, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving, Makia provides emotional support while helping clients better understand their experiences and strengthen their ability to manage stressful circumstances.

• Family- and Systems-Informed Care

  Her extensive experience in child welfare, foster care, community services, and family-focused settings gives Makia a strong understanding of how relationships, family systems, environmental stressors, and community circumstances can affect emotional well-being.

Education & Credentials

• Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) — State of New York

• Master of Social Work (MSW) — Hunter College, Silberman School of Social Work

• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology — Hunter College

• Over 25 years of professional experience in the social work field

• Extensive experience serving culturally and socioeconomically diverse individuals, youth, and families

• Former Social Work Program Director in a community-based organization

• Former Child Protective Specialist with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)

• Professional experience within foster care

• Experience working within a diagnostic reception center

• Experience within a non-secure detention facility

• Experience supporting individuals within GED and educational programming

Client Focus

• Preteens

• Adolescents and teens

• Young adults

• Adults

• Individuals

• Families

• Clients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds

• Youth and families navigating complex systems

• Individuals experiencing significant life transitions

• Clients coping with grief or loss

• Individuals experiencing anxiety or depression

• Clients seeking stronger coping skills and emotional regulation

• Individuals navigating family and relationship difficulties

• Clients seeking greater confidence, resilience, and emotional well-being