Find a therapist in Florida — covered by insurance

My therapy style is centered on warmth, empathy, and inclusivity. Drawing from my extensive experience working with diverse populations, I strive to create a safe, non-judgmental space where everyone feels heard, valued, and understood. Everyone brings unique experiences, and my goal is to ensure that our work together honors your cultural, spiritual, and personal life story.

Katherine Castelo, LCSW is a licensed therapist and certified clinical supervisor in Virginia, Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland, and Colorado. With over 25 years of experience, she specializes in trauma, military and veteran mental health, first-responder wellness, grief, deployment-related stress, and major life transitions.

A former Marine Corps veteran spouse, Katherine brings lived experience and deep cultural understanding to her work. She has served across the DoD, VA, nonprofit, and civilian sectors, providing high-level clinical care, consultation, and program leadership.

She previously oversaw a Defense Health Agency program for transitioning service members and served as the U.S. Army Reserve Psychological Health Program Director, leading outreach for more than 200,000 soldiers and families and advising on post-suicide psychological autopsies as part of the USAR Fatality Review Board.

Katherine also worked as a civilian Employee Assistance Program (EAP) manager for the U.S. Navy and as a casualty assistance consultant for NCIS, developing programs focused on readiness, crisis response, and deployment-cycle support.

As founder of Awaken Wellness Center, her practice centers on trauma recovery, crisis intervention, and integrative therapies. She is trained in Brainspotting, IFS-informed work, and trauma-responsive care, and has provided trainings for service members, clinicians, and community providers on PTSD, MST, suicide prevention, and Brainspotting.

Today, Katherine consults with the SAFE Project’s SAFE Veterans initiative and teaches caregiver wellness classes with Semper Fi & America’s Fund, bringing compassionate, evidence-based, culturally grounded care to military members, veterans, first responders, caregivers, and their families.

I graduated with my Masters of Science degree with a major in Clinical Psychology from Barry University. My practical training began at Family Counseling Services of Greater Miami. I have also gained invaluable crisis care and intervention experience working with adults and adolescents at a Crisis Services Unit. My work at a private psychosocial rehabilitation organization allowed me to gain additional proficiency working with adolescents and adults with severe and persistent mental illness.

I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, CAP and ICADC certified, with broad experience working with individuals, children and families. I have experience working with individuals, children and families with mental health and substance use disorders, helping them overcome stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, relationship difficulties, trauma, self-esteem, adjustment challenges and loss or grief. I’m trilingual and can provide therapy in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

My passion is to is to guide clients to become aware of the self-limiting belief systems that prevent them from living happy, healthy, and balanced lives and to inspire them to make positive changes.

My approach is strength-based, forming a collaborative relationship with the client, fostering self-awareness, effective problem solving, and the development of positive coping strategies. My focus when I work with clients struggling with addictions is to assist them to identify the underlying issues that cause them to struggle with addiction and help them to overcome these issues, while acquiring purposeful direction, motivation and the development of independence. I recognize that each person is unique and therefore needs individualized counseling strategies that will provide the best outcome for their own needs.

I am committed to providing personalized and empathetic mental health care. I have extensive experience in both outpatient and inpatient treatment settings, I've worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds, guiding them through a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges.

I specialize in helping individuals manage depression, anxiety, life transitions, and self-esteem issues. My goal is to empower clients to build resilience, develop healthier coping strategies, and create meaningful, lasting change in their lives.

Perhaps you're struggling in silence, and from the outside, everything seems fine to your friends and family. But what happens when your outer world doesn't reflect what's going on inside? You may feel overwhelmed, lost, or too embarrassed to speak up. Who can you talk to or trust that you can say the things that you don’t feel right to say out loud? You are not alone, and it is more common than you may think. This increases anxiety and can stand in the way of building fulfilling relationships, achieving career success, or finding a place of peace where you truly feel at home.