Brian Castle, Practicum Student
Practicum Student
Supervised by Nancy Wendlandt, LPC
For 18 years working on the front lines of schools as a teacher and school counselor as well as being a parent of three children, Brian has supported kids, from early elementary classrooms to high school hallways, who struggle to navigate an exhausting set of both spoken and unspoken rules.
Growing up as a quiet, sensitive kid from a working class home, to currently working and living in a much more affluent neighborhood, he always been someone who never quite fit neatly into rigid social molds. Brian learned early on what it feels like to live on the outside of conventional expectations.
Brian’s Education and Experience
Brian went to Kent State University and received his Bachelors in Early Childhood Education. He spent nearly two decades in the public school system as both a teacher and school counselor. He has a Masters of Education and School Counseling from UST and is currently in the LPC-Associate bridge program at UST. He spent nearly two decades in the public school system, as both a teacher and school counselor.
Brian’s Clinical Approach
His goal in therapy is not to "fix" your child, judge their behavior, or hand down rigid behavioral protocols. Having spent his career partnering with families, he knows that true growth happens when kids and teens finally find a space where they can drop the act.
Working across developmental stages from early childhood to late adolescence, Brian creates an authentic, humanistic space to help young people:
Step Outside the Box: Unpack the narrow social scripts that make them feel like they don't belong.
Lighten the Invisible Load: Validate and process complex feelings (anger, anxiety, burnout, or grief) without having to swallow them or hide them away.
Build Authentic Resilience: Cultivate genuine self-compassion and self-advocacy rooted in who they actually are, rather than the performance they feel forced to maintain.
Therapy shouldn't feel like another classroom or obligation where kids have to earn approval. It's a place to catch their breath, figure out what they care about, and grow on their own terms.
He also fascinated in the concept of “emotional labor”, popularized by thinkers like Arlie Hochschild and Rose Hackman. They write of the struggles of managing everyone else's comfort, keeping the peace at the expense of your own well-being, and hiding your true feelings just to survive institutional and group expectations. Through his experience as a school counselor and a dad, Brian has guided and supported students of all ages through these challenges - as well as taking part of the ongoing work of overcoming many of them myself.
Brian’s Areas of Practice
Brian approaches counseling with a grounded, collaborative style centered on empathy, practical skill-building, and authentic connection. He creates a safe, non-judgmental space where young children, adolescents and men can build awareness, strengthen coping strategies, and develop tools for long term personal growth.
His areas of practice include:
Adolescent & young adult development
Academic stress & school-related anxiety
Transitions & identity development
Emotional regulation & coping strategies
Parent-child & family dynamics
Grief, loss, & recovery
Men’s issues & emotional labor
Counseling Services Provided by Brian
On a Personal Note
Brian is an avid reader and has been inspired by theorists like Richard Reeves and Tony Porter - authors who highlight the modern structural and cultural pressures facing young men, as well as outline the restrictive cultural code that demands boys suppress vulnerability, hide emotional pain, and solve everything alone.
He is a father of 3 children - ranging from kindergarten to a high school freshman!