
Maura Furness
Licensed Clinical Social Worker #104062
Medi-Cal Provider
I have a strength-based, humanistic approach to working with people. My belief is that we all have inherent strengths and transformational healing abilities. My goal is to support you in learning how to discover, bring awareness to, and learn how to harness these skills and abilities in order to experience healing, and a deeper knowing, love and acceptance of the self.
I have extensive experience working with youth and families, substance use, anxiety, depression, family transitions, loss and more recently grief and overwhelm related to the Covid 19 pandemic.
I am informed by my own meditation and yoga practice, and I utilize holistic mindfulness practices that allow me to hold space for clients to integrate the growth and realizations they have during sessions, and ground the work in unconditional presence.
I received my BA in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Poverty and Inequality. In the past I have worked as a community organizer and social justice ally. I received my Masters in Social Work in order to combine my passion for social justice with my desire to serve and support healing and individual transformation that bring honest change to lives and communities.
I am currently taking new sliding scale patients and will shortly be accepting Medical insurance.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or an interest in working with me. (831) 295-8094 or maura@shinealight.info
Request an Appointment
To Request an Appointment at Shine a Light or NPCC, please fill out this form. We respond to inquiries Monday through Friday. All inquiries we receive on the weekends or holidays will be processed the next business day. Thank you for your patience. If you need immediate services, please call 911.
Therapist/Agency Referrals
Agency Inquiries
New Office in San Francisco!
Shine a Light Counseling Center is please to merge with New Perspectives Center for Counseling. NPCC has been serving the San Francisco community for thirty years. Now NPCC is transitioning to become the San Francisco site for Shine a Light. NPCC will retain its name, character and history. For information about NPCC or counseling in San Francisco:
New Perspectives Center for Counseling (link)
Emergency Contact
Shine a Light does not provide crisis services. If you have a mental health emergency, call 988 or 911. Or click here for more Crisis Resources
Telephone Contact
You can call Shine a Light at 831-996-1222, but we encourage you to use the email forms to the left. If you call, please leave the following:
- Phone number
- Preferred location
- Best times to meet
- Issue you want help with
- What insurance you have (if any)
FAX us at: 831-417-0443
Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your therapy sessions will cost. Your fee will be set according to a sliding scale, in collaboration with your therapist, prior to your first counseling session. Total costs depend upon the number of sessions you choose to utilize.
If you have private health insurance and we are not in-network with your plan, please be aware that your costs for therapy may be less by using an in-network provider. This will depend upon your plan's deductible amounts and co-payments. In some cases, counseling at Shine a Light is less costly than using private insurance.
If you hope to use "out of network" benefits through your private insurance, please be aware that many plans will not reimburse for services provided by trainees. Please request an Associate level therapists for out-of-network billing.