We recently connected with Cristina Castrillon and have shared our conversation below.

Cristina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

In acquiring hours for my licensing, I worked as an intern for many years at an outpatient clinic. The population was primarily severe and chronically ill individuals who struggled with and were tremendously impacted by their mental illness. I believe a lot of the general population tends to place labels and stigma on the mentally ill, which leads to misconceptions about mental illness, as well as missing seeing that person with their subjective humanity. In my time there I got to do individual and group services, working alongside a treatment team. Though it had its challenges I would say it was one of the best educations I received outside of my master’s program. I learned every day from those patients attending the program, as well as from the knowledgeable professionals I collaborated with. It was one thing to read and study about severe and chronic mental illness and another to see unfold in so many ways in these individuals lives daily.

It was a humbling experience and it made me value health and wellbeing more than ever had. It was an honor to get to connect deeply with these individuals and bear witness to their stories and journeys. It further opened my eyes to the stigmas and the narratives out there about the mentally ill. I can honestly say I met some of the kindest, wisest, and most interesting people in my time there. It made me really evaluate labels and judgements we so quickly make in our society when we build compartments to place people in. It tremendously benefited me individually and my career.

Cristina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been practicing now for over a decade. During my first years, I worked in various community settings, school, and outpatient services. I eventually ended up in private practice and have worked in two group practices and most recently transitioned to my own practice. In the Summer of 2022, I created Cultivate Calm where I provide individual therapy services in both California and Nevada.

I help clients with a wide range of things from biological mental health issues like depression, anxiety, OCD to external stressors that may be impacting their wellbeing. Many times, it’s a combination of both factors. I think the thing that has been most helpful in my approach is really focusing on the relationship and connection I get to make with that individual that builds trust in what can be a scary and uncomfortable process. My goal is to provide cultural, and trauma informed sensitive care.  I am holistic and humanistic in approach and believe in having spirit and intuition honoring practice. I am an immigrant and have had trials and tribulations in my life personally with mental health and adversity, which has greatly impacted who I am inside and outside of therapy.

I am trained in trauma care and specifically trained in a modality called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I take an anti-oppressive approach in looking at how systems impact individuals, particularly those in the BIPOC community. I am also passionate about decolonialization of therapy, which can take a very Western stance on therapeutic work. I believe in allowing for an array of healing practices, which can be cultural or spiritual in nature.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Something I am currently unlearning is that I don’t have to be rigid or detached as a therapist. I respect and understand the need for professionalism and boundaries, that should always be part of the recipe, but if there is too much of that, it can taint the therapeutic relationship. In school we are taught a Western approach to healing work. That can be especially limiting for clinicians and clients that are from other cultures. Though it has great value I am also learning what it means for me subjectively as clinician and business owner now. I believe we can trust ourselves both with our education and experience to go with what works for us and our clients. There are a lot of personal and societal layers to consider when working with someone and healing can come in many forms. I am working on growing in being more transparent, human, and real with clients. I am also unlearning the role capitalism plays on us, especially business owners. We can invest in our chosen paths, but we don’t have to lose ourselves in the process. We can try to work on a better work-life balance and figure out what our own individual goals are as business owners.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This past year I made the decision to start my own private practice after always being employed through community organizations or group practices. I never wanted to entertain the idea due to fear of it being too difficult. What can be true for those in helping professions is tending to not know or lean towards business related elements. Many of us as therapist are at a disadvantage in that most graduate programs lack providing any courses on owning your own business and is something many have to take on alone. With the pandemic the landscape of therapy changed tremendously, and many therapists moved from in person to telehealth sessions. This allowed clinicians flexibility in their practice, and it completely changed mine. Being able to work from home meant no use for an office and cut some of the fear of overhead cost from the picture. The demand for therapist began to rise as the social climate intensified. After a personal life pivot, I made the decision to move out of California to Nevada. I then became licensed in Nevada and started to consider what it would be like for me to face the fear and go out on my own. All of those changes opened me up fully to the idea and I became a first-time business owner and created Cultivate Calm. Though it’s been a learning curve I am grateful that things have led me to this path and hope to continue to build my practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cultivatecalmtherapy.com
• Instagram: @cultivate_calm
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-castrillon-1898a836