Beria Gaxiola, MFT
Director of Programs
STRONG Youth

​​“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.”-   Helen Keller

Although she has faced her share of suffering and struggle, Beria has maintained a unique faith in others that she weaves into her work. As a child of a migrant farm worker who attended 14 different schools by the time she graduated high school, Beria was exposed to many of the perils that plague the youth in our communities today. But it was her love for learning and the influence of positive adults in her life that led her to overcome her many challenges and lead a successful life.

She graduated Highland High School number 12 in her class and went on to earn a dual Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish making her the first to graduate college in her family. She then completed a Masters in Counseling with a specialization in family and adolescent therapy.

Beria is grateful that working with S.T.R.O.N.G. allows her to use her clinical skills and program creativity to infuse faith in our youth and their families so that they too can overcome the obstacles they face.

Beria returned to the STRONG team in January 2018

Maria Demauro, LMSW
LGBTQ Services Manager
PFY

Maria oversees the Supportive Counseling Program, organizes community-wide events, multimedia campaigns, and coalition building efforts to spread sexual health information. Maria serves as co-chair of the Long Island Ending the Epidemic (ETE) Committee, which aims to end the HIV epidemic in New York’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties. She carries a caseload of individuals and families for supportive counseling and assistance with Name/Gender Marker Changes, and Letter of Support for Gender Affirming Medical Care. Maria also provides professional development trainings at educational, health & human service, and medical provider settings across Long Island and Queens.​