You are not defective or broken.
If you're somewhere between 40 and 60 and you feel like you're coming apart at the seams, you're not alone. The sudden anger, the 3 a.m. anxiety, the grief you can't name and the old memories coming back all have real roots. None of it means you're failing.
Why is all of this surfacing now?
Midlife is not a quiet decade. It is often the loudest one.
Shifting estrogen affects mood, sleep and how your body handles stress. The coping strategies that carried you through your 20s and 30s can stop working almost overnight. For many women, childhood pain that felt settled for years comes back during perimenopause.
And it all lands at once, often on top of everything else this stage of life asks of you.
Who I work with
If one of these sounds like you, you're in the right place.
Women in midlife
Navigating perimenopause and menopause, identity shifts, body changes and changing family roles.
Trauma that came back
Women whose trauma resurfaced in their 40s and 50s after being manageable for years.
Daughters of difficult mothers
Whether the relationship is ongoing or the wounds are left over from long ago.
Healing from childhood
Adults recovering from childhood abuse, neglect and unmet emotional needs.
Late-diagnosed autism & ADHD
Adults diagnosed later in life, especially women who were missed as girls.
I'm in midlife too
I'm not writing about this from the outside. I'm living it myself: a changing body, adult children and an aging family. That lived experience sits right alongside my training, and it shapes how I show up for the women I work with.
Warm, direct and grounded in brain science
You will not have to retell your story over and over.
I use EMDR, Attachment-Focused EMDR and psychodynamic therapy to help your brain and body process what's been stuck, without reliving every detail. Together we build a plan that fits your schedule, your nervous system and your goals.
Background
- Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, California #10716
- Licensed for telehealth in Florida #1589 and South Carolina #2226
- B.A., UCLA · M.S., University of La Verne
- Over a decade of trauma work, including survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, survivors of human trafficking, youth in foster care and young men in the justice system
- EMDR trained, with advanced training in Attachment-Focused EMDR
A little about me
I'm a first-generation American, born and raised in Los Angeles, and the mother of three adult children. I share my home with an American Bully, a French Bulldog and a tabby cat.
Let's talk about what's going on.
I keep a small private-pay caseload so the pace of therapy is set by you and me, not by an insurance company. Many clients with PPO plans are reimbursed for a good part of each session, and I'm happy to help you check your out-of-network benefits before we start.
Christina Castro, LPCC: CA #10716, FL #1589, SC #2226. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 or go to the nearest emergency room. This page is for information only and does not create a therapist-client relationship.