Melissa Maceo, LCSW

My Story

I graduated from City University of New York at Hunter College in 2017 after completing the Masters in Social Work program. I had previously graduated from Hunter College in 2014 with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. I always knew I wanted to work in behavioral health and initially planned to study to become a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. However, I had always been interested in the social and cultural components and how they interact to influence the behavior and outcomes of individuals and groups. Though if am being honest, I was burned out from school. I never told anyone this, not only because I didn’t have the vocabulary to identity the feelings of hopelessness and fatigue I was experiencing, but because I knew the response I would get would have been, “How can you be tired? You only go to school.” As a Latina from the Caribbean, the concept of being tired and wanting to rest can sound foreign and “work harder” is often the prescribed solution.

Thankfully, I got away with taking a year off to volunteer with an agency that served children involved with the family court system, a population I had become very interested in learning more about due to the experiences of a close friend had been in foster care as a teenager. It was here that I knew I wanted to be a social worker after I witnessed the empathy and compassion of the people who had dedicated themselves to assisting families navigate the complexities of the family court system. But it wasn’t just the work that they did in the legal system that impressed me. It was the holistic approach they took to tackling the bigger picture. From engaging the children’s school to collaborating with their medical providers to reaching out to people in the families communities, it seemed to me that social workers were everywhere and left no stone unturned. To the social workers in this agency, there was no such thing as isolated events. Just like there was no judgement towards the families they served for finding themselves involved in family court.

My mind was decided and one year later, I found myself in the same classrooms as many of the social workers that inspired me. Now, in 2024, I have worked with the homeless population in a family shelter to the medically fragile population in Mount Sinai Hospital to Medicaid enrolled youth in a Managed Care Organization. My professional and personal experience has shown me first hand the importance therapy. Therapy was no longer a concept as it was in 2014 but a clear healing instrument with temporary and long-term benefits for those who engaged on it.

As a therapist, I work with adults and adolescents struggling with anxiety and depression to assist them in making the changes that led them to therapy. I take a solution-focused and strength-based approach to support my clients in identifying and using the skills they already have, as well as teaching new coping skills, to assist them in facing the challenges they are confronting. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing techniques to create personalized care plans to help my clients obtain the growth they seek.