Laura Castillo, MSW, LCSW, PMH-C – Staff Psychotherapist

(she/her/hers)

My approach to therapy:

Therapy is, more than anything, a relationship in which we can heal. My approach to therapy is fundamentally relational, which means I care a whole lot about how it feels for you to be in the room with me (and with your partner, if you’re coming as a couple), and I’m always thinking about how to make it feel safe and supportive of your personal growth. I think about treatment primarily through a trauma-informed lens, which means I’m always curious about how past experiences have shaped you, how we can begin to bring healing to past wounds, and how we can create new experiences for you that might help you live more of the life you want to live. With couples, my big goal is to help you create an emotionally safer dynamic with each other in which you can really hear each other and come back to the good relational stuff that brought you together in the first place. Modalities that inform my work include EMDR, Polyvagal Theory, IFS, CBT, ACT, mindfulness, and the Gottman Method.

Issues I can help with:

I love working with people in the seasons of life that surround pregnancy. This means people who are considering parenthood, trying to conceive, pregnant, postpartum, or parenting young kids (although I also work with plenty of people who don’t fit that description!). I help people who have experienced anxiety, depression, trauma, complex trauma, relational difficulties, and grief and loss. I find a lot of meaning in walking with people through these challenges and helping them find a way to live lighter and more authentically. I work with individuals, couples, and groups both virtually and at our Oak Park location.

Education and Experience:

I graduated with a degree in English from Hope College in 2007, and still love all things linguistic and creative. I obtained my MSW from Michigan State University in 2010, and my experience since then has included child welfare, community mental health, adoption, and parent education. I have been working as a psychotherapist since early 2020. But beyond all of that, it’s a priority to me to never stop learning, so I’m always working on growing as a therapist through ongoing training and consultation. I am trained in EMDR, pursuing certification in EMDR, certified in perinatal mental health, and have completed the Gottman Method Level 2 training.

A little more about me:

Being a therapist has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. Walking with people through their pain allows me to see more clearly the power of compassion (especially self-compassion!), our universal need for connection and community, and the common humanity that ties us all together. Additionally, some of my own life experiences around parenting and secondary infertility make this work very meaningful to me on a personal level. I love good books, good coffee, good dogs, and good food. I look forward to meeting you!