Myra Castañeda, LMFT

I believe that with the right person therapy can be collaborative, deeply effective, and can help with immediate problems or long-standing struggles. People are naturally lively and healthy, but our access to this liveliness can become blocked as we are forced to adjust to various life challenges. I work to help people gain awareness of why and how they have lost access to meaningful parts of themselves, find ways to remove blocks to emotional growth, and move towards a life that feels more connected and alive. In doing so, I attend to past and present circumstances, behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and the body. I am open, authentic, engaged, and gently challenging in my interactions with clients.

As a Marriage & Family Therapist, I intend to support you in enhancing your relationships. I will also offer guidance for healing and growth in any other domains of your life that you'd like to examine. I work with couples, families, and individuals struggling with a range of issues, and tailor my approach to the unique needs of my clients. My areas of interest include relational issues – such as sex and sexuality, connection, codependency, communication skills, as well as grief, family-of-origin matters, life transitions, trauma, PTSD, sexual abuse and coping with depressive and/or anxious symptoms.

I also have expertise working with the issues startup co-founders, entrepreneurs, and other small business owners face while experiencing the immense pressure to build and sustain a company. Building a startup or a small business is not only incredibly admirable, but can also be incredibly difficult. Within this field, the pressure, workload, and high expectations may not only be overwhelming, but might also throw founders into an anxious and imbalanced lifestyle. When two or more lives are intertwined on this kind of level, there are often stressors that can potentially damage the relationship and the business as a whole. My work both here at NCRC and with Amity Chicago creates a safe space to explore these relationships, on both a business level and an interpersonal level, to help build trust, communication and empathy.

Through my training at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, I have adapted a treatment style that is both goal-oriented and strength based - this allows for a collaborative treatment that empowers my clients to participate in their own growth and healing. I deeply value working with people of diverse backgrounds and identities, and I am culturally sensitive, sex positive, and LGBTQIA affirming..