Find a therapist in New Jersey — covered by insurance

My name is Matthew Buragina and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I received my Master’s in Social Work from Fordham University. I have worked across various levels of care with children and adolescents, including inpatient, outpatient, and crisis settings. I have undergone additional training in the treatment of OCD and ADHD.

Vasti Cedeño, MA, MSW, LCSW, ADHD-CCSP, is the founding therapist at LifeWork Counseling in New Jersey. As a neurodivergent, first-generation, plus-size Latina, she champions radical acceptance. Her practice, catering exclusively to adults 25 and older, focuses on ADHD, self-esteem, trauma, and anxiety disorders. Vasti specializes in fostering self-love and healing negative body image issues, helping clients build healthier relationships with themselves.

Therapy can be defined as anything that is done that moves a client toward health and wholeness. Healing requires movement. So, first, we’ll collaborate and determine how you’re stuck in your life. As human beings, we reach out to others for assistance when we’re frustrated and can’t see any options for ourselves in a particular situation. At that point, we’re feeling stuck...with obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors, with feelings that we don’t know how to process, or with a partner or job that’s unfulfilling.

Being or feeling stuck is the last place you want to be. Life is about movement...whether it’s backwards, forwards, up or down. Any kind of movement gets you unstuck and involved in the healing process.

Therapy helps you get unstuck and helps you discern and make conscious choices regarding a course of action.

I use a variety of treatment modalities to help you reach your goals depending on your openness and preferences. These include cognitive behavioral therapy, insight oriented therapy, hypnotherapy and past life regression. Together we decide which treatment option is best suited to meet your needs. Sometimes it's one of these options exclusively, other times, it's a combination of modalities.

My style is warm and collaborative. I'm active in sessions and give clients feedback. One of my goals is to give you something to think about in between sessions.

My post graduate degree from Seton Hall is an Ed.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy. I also have a Th.M. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Princeton Seminary and a M.Div. from the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia.

If you have unproductive behaviors, fears, stress or relationship problems, therapy helps. The first move is to reach out for assistance.

Growing up in a culture where mental health was often stigmatized, I saw how difficult it could be for people to openly talk about their struggles or ask for support. Those experiences shaped my passion for therapy and inspired me to help create a space where people feel comfortable, supported, and understood without fear of judgment.

In my work, I’ve had the opportunity to support individuals from diverse backgrounds who are navigating a range of life challenges. These experiences have strengthened my belief in meeting each person with empathy, patience, and respect for where they are in their journey, while helping them build on their strengths and move toward meaningful change.

I have worked in the field of mental health for 16 years in a variety of settings including emergency rooms, mobile crisis, residential treatment, community homes, and adolescent transitional housing, and virtual based crisis work. In addition, I have also worked with the public safety (police and corrections) community. As a 1st generation Caribbean American, I also have ties to the Caribbean community and have provided clinical services to many members of the Diaspora.