Maria Kontoulis
Dr. Kontoulis is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in child clinical psychology. She is a co-founder of the Resilient Lives Centre for Social and Emotional Health. She is also an academic at the University of Nicosia, where she teaches graduate classes in clinical psychology while she provides clinical supervision to students in their clinical practicum. She currently provides individual and group therapy to children and teenagers, while she utilizes family therapy and parenting counseling for an integrated approach in treatment planning. She specializes in anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. She also has an extensive experience in the treatment of Eating disorders using Family-Based Therapy for teenagers, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for adults.
She completed a pre-doctoral internship at Rockland Psychiatric Hospital in New York, USA and two years of a post-doctoral residency with the University of Florida’s division of medical psychology in anxiety disorders with an emphasis on obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders.
Dr. Kontoulis is currently involved in research and development of resilience therapy training in collaboration with Dr. Alexandros Lordos of the SEEDS organization and UNISEF. This initiative’s goal is to promote resilience in individuals, families and communities.
- 97905226
- drmkontoulis@outlook.com
Experience
In 2012, Dr. Kontoulis joined the UF Department of Psychiatry faculty. She helped develop what is now the UF Health Eating Disorder Recovery Center by hiring and training new staff, writing treatment protocols and establishing medical criteria. In addition to treating patients with eating disorders, Dr. Kontoulis provided psychotherapy for anxiety disorders at UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital and UF Health Psychiatry at Springhill.
Dr. Kontoulis evidence-based treatment approach helps patients cultivate tools to overcome their psychological, behavioral or cognitive issues. She is direct, honest and empathetic in her approach to care. She utilizes Exposure Response Prevention, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help patients uncover issues in life that are preventing them from functioning at their best. She explores the underlying distress of the disorder to help clients experience a healthier life through teaching techniques like mindfulness, radical acceptance and distress tolerance. Family supportive therapy is also provided as part of the integrated approach in the treatment of children to empower parents to take control of raising resilient children. Dr. Kontoulis believes that the best prognosis for a child with any behavioral or psychological issues is the direct and intensive involvement of the family.