The Moody Dandelion
Boutique Psychotherapy & Life Coaching

What does the Moody Dandelion represent?

The Moody Dandelion was created to honor the truth that healing and growth are not linear — they are layered, imperfect, and deeply human. Like a dandelion, we are both delicate and resilient: growing through cracks, adapting to change, and blooming in unexpected places. The “moody” reflects the emotional depth we hold space for — the parts of life that are tender, uncertain, and still becoming.

Here, we offer boutique therapy and life coaching designed for the whole person — reflective, relational, and trauma-informed. Our therapy services guide you through emotional healing, identity work, and nervous system balance. Our life coaching helps you move forward with structure, clarity, and self-trust — blending reflection with action.

Together, they form the heart of The Moody Dandelion: a space where reflection meets resilience, and where growth isn’t rushed — it’s cultivated with care. Because healing and becoming are both part of the same journey.

Meet Amelia

Meet Dr. Maria Apuzzo, LCSW

Clinical Social Worker
License in CT & NY

Dr. Maria Apuzzo is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a doctorate from New York University and over 15 years of experience helping adults heal from longstanding emotional wounds, relationship patterns, and life transitions. After years serving vulnerable populations in community mental health settings, she established a private practice focused on supporting high-functioning adults who often appear successful on the outside while privately struggling with overwhelm, self-doubt, emotional exhaustion, and difficult relationship dynamics.

Dr. Apuzzo specializes in working with adults navigating ADHD, trauma, addiction recovery, mood disorders, and the lasting impact of growing up with emotionally immature, narcissistic, or personality-disordered caregivers. Many of her clients arrive feeling stuck in patterns of people-pleasing, overfunctioning, chronic self-sacrifice, perfectionism, emotional caretaking, and difficulty setting boundaries.

As an ADHD-CCSP (ADHD Clinical Services Provider), Dr. Apuzzo works with both individuals and couples, particularly where ADHD, emotional reactivity, communication difficulties, attachment injuries, or unresolved family-of-origin experiences are impacting relationships. She helps clients better understand how nervous system responses, attachment patterns, and early relational experiences continue to influence present-day coping, self-worth, and intimacy.

Her therapeutic approach integrates relational therapy, attachment-focused work, trauma-informed care, and brain-health-informed interventions. Together, clients explore how childhood roles, emotional neglect, inconsistent caregiving, family dysfunction, and attachment wounds shape current patterns in relationships, work, and self-concept. Treatment focuses not only on insight but on helping clients build healthier boundaries, develop emotional regulation skills, strengthen self-trust, and create more reciprocal and fulfilling relationships.

Clients who work with Dr. Apuzzo often seek to:

• Heal from the impact of emotionally immature, narcissistic, or personality-disordered parents

• Break patterns of people-pleasing, overfunctioning, and chronic self-sacrifice

• Establish healthier boundaries without guilt

• Understand and heal attachment wounds

• Improve self-worth and reduce shame-based thinking

• Navigate ADHD-related overwhelm, emotional dysregulation, and relationship challenges

• Strengthen relationships affected by trauma, chronic conflict, or communication difficulties

• Reduce anxiety, stabilize mood, and develop healthier coping strategies

• Recover from addiction and maladaptive coping patterns

Dr. Apuzzo provides a compassionate, insight-oriented, and collaborative therapeutic space where clients can explore both the origins of their struggles and practical tools for change. Her work is grounded in the belief that many symptoms are adaptive responses to earlier experiences and that meaningful healing occurs when clients learn to move beyond survival patterns and develop more authentic, connected ways of living and relating.

Dr. Apuzzo primarily provides therapy through secure telehealth sessions throughout Connecticut and New York, offering flexibility for busy professionals, parents, and adults navigating significant life demands. In-person appointments are available on an as-needed basis for established clients.

Meet Amelia

Meet Dora Kong, LCSW

Clinical Social Worker
Licensed in NY

Dora Kong is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 10 years of experience helping adults navigate life’s challenges and strengthen their emotional well-being. She earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from New York University, where she developed a strong foundation in evidence-based practices and client-centered care.

Dora works exclusively with adults navigating life transitions, anxiety, and self-worth challenges, providing a safe, nonjudgmental space to untangle overwhelming thoughts and build practical coping skills. She specializes in helping high-functioning but emotionally overloaded adults who feel stuck in patterns of worry, perfectionism, and self-doubt.

Integrating Solution-Focused Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with a deeply person-centered approach, Dora helps clients move beyond insight alone and into clear, actionable change. Her style is warm, collaborative, and goal-directed — she partners with clients to reframe unhelpful thinking, build resilience, and create lasting emotional balance.

Dora’s expertise includes:

Supporting professionals and caregivers through stress, burnout, and identity shifts
Helping adults navigate relationship struggles, boundary-setting, and self-esteem rebuilding
Guiding those with anxiety and overthinking toward calmer, more confident decision-making

Her approach is practical yet deeply compassionate: each session blends reflection with evidence-based tools, empowering clients to understand their patterns, regulate emotions, and move toward the life they want with greater stability and confidence.

Dora speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Dora is Telehealth only.

Availability:

Monday 5:30 and 6:15

Wednesday 5:30 and 6:15

Friday 5:30

Delly Chollet is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a deep passion for helping adolescents and young adults navigate life’s challenges and build confidence in themselves. She earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from Fairfield University, where she developed a strong clinical foundation rooted in evidence-based practices and a commitment to compassionate, client-centered care. Delly also holds a Certificate in Clinical Trauma Training, allowing her to integrate trauma-informed approaches that help clients process their experiences safely and foster long-term resilience.

Meet Delly Chollet, LCSW

Clinical Social Worker
Licensed in CT

Delly works primarily with adolescents and young adults who are navigating big life transitions, identity development, and intense emotions, while also supporting adults who feel stuck or overwhelmed by similar challenges. She helps clients move from confusion and self-doubt toward clarity, confidence, and emotional balance.

Her approach is humanistic and collaborative — warm, respectful, and grounded in genuine connection. Delly integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to give clients practical tools to manage anxiety, regulate emotions, and break unhelpful patterns while deepening self-awareness and resilience.

Delly’s expertise includes:

Helping adolescents manage school and social stress, perfectionism, and self-esteem struggles
Supporting college students and young adults through identity exploration, independence, and relationship challenges
Assisting adults who are experiencing anxiety, depression, or transition-related stress and want to better understand themselves and grow emotionally

Known for her ability to meet clients exactly where they are, Delly creates a safe, nonjudgmental space where people feel truly seen and understood. She empowers clients to find their voice, trust themselves, and build the skills needed to thrive — even through uncertainty and change.

Delly speaks French and English. Delly is Telehealth only.

Availability:

Monday 4pm-6pm

Wednesday 4pm-6pm

Friday 3pm-6pm

Saturday 10am-2pm

Why Naturopathy

Why Psychotherapy?

It can help with

Introspection

Introspection is beneficial in therapy as it allows individuals to explore their thoughts and feelings deeply, leading to greater self-awareness. This process helps identify patterns in behavior and emotions, enabling clients to understand the root causes of their challenges. By reflecting on their experiences, individuals can develop healthier coping strategies and make more informed decisions.

Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation enables individuals to manage their emotions effectively, leading to healthier responses in various situations. By controlling emotional reactions, people can reduce stress, improve relationships, and enhance overall well-being. This skill also fosters resilience, allowing individuals to navigate challenges with a clearer mindset., emotional regulation contributes to a more balanced and fulfilling life

Skills

Therapy helps individuals develop constructive coping mechanisms to deal with stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges. This might include cognitive-behavioral techniques, relaxation exercises, or lifestyle changes that support mental health (creating boundaries, building resilience, goal setting and learning about effective communication).

Body Regulation

Therapy helps regulate the body by reducing stress, calming the nervous system, and promoting emotional awareness. Techniques like mindfulness, deep breathing, and relaxation exercises improve physical responses such as heart rate, sleep, and digestion. Therapy also enhances body awareness, teaches coping strategies for emotional regulation, and addresses chronic pain, sleep disorders, and trauma stored in the body.

Communication

Therapy improves communication by enhancing self-awareness, teaching active listening, assertiveness, and emotional expression. It helps individuals manage conflicts, set boundaries, and become mindful of nonverbal cues. These skills lead to clearer, healthier, and more productive interactions in personal and professional relationships.

Brain Health

~ Promotes emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes that positively

influence brain function and overall

mental well-being.

~ Reducing stress

~ Healing trauma

~ Enhancing cognitive functioning

~ Promotes neuroplasticity

Why Naturopathy

Why Life Coaching?

It can help with

You feel ready for change, but you’re not sure where to start.

Sometimes you know something needs to shift — your mindset, habits, or daily rhythm — but the “how” feels unclear. Life coaching helps you turn awareness into a plan. Together, we’ll identify what’s keeping you stuck, clarify your goals, and take small, consistent steps toward the life you want to build.

You’re seeking structure that actually fits your life.

Coaching helps you create systems and routines that work with your strengths, not against them. Whether it’s managing time, energy, or focus, sessions provide tools and accountability to make your days feel more balanced and intentional. It’s not about rigid schedules — it’s about sustainable flow.

You want accountability that feels human.

Change doesn’t happen in isolation. A coach offers support that’s both compassionate and real — someone who can hold you accountable without judgment, help you track progress, and remind you of your capacity when self-doubt creeps in.

You’re navigating transition, growth, or uncertainty.

Whether you’re healing from burnout, adjusting to life after recovery, parenting, or stepping into a new chapter, coaching gives you space to reflect, plan, and ground yourself through change. You don’t need to have everything figured out — you just need a starting point.

You’re learning how to manage your mind, energy, or emotions differently.

Life coaching can help you understand how your thoughts, habits, and nervous system interact — especially if you’re living with ADHD, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm. You’ll learn practical tools for focus, boundaries, and emotional regulation, so life starts to feel more manageable and less reactive.

You’re seeking balance, clarity, and self-trust.

Coaching isn’t about perfection — it’s about alignment. It’s the process of coming home to yourself, honoring your needs, and creating a life that reflects your values. Over time, you’ll learn to trust your decisions, stay grounded through chaos, and build a rhythm that feels authentically yours.