Meet Laurel

Laurel A. Santos was born and raised in Northern California and moved to New Orleans in early 2013; she currently splits her year between New Orleans and an off grid ranch in Northern New Mexico. She received her BA in Psychology with a minor in Human Sexuality from San Francisco State University, then attended the University of San Francisco for her MA in Counseling Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked with individuals, families and couples from different cultural backgrounds, and is most fulfilled in her work when she is able to help individuals gain insight into and more consciously engage with the dynamics shaping their relationships.

In graduate school, she worked with adolescents at an alternative school in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco and also with OASIS of San Mateo County; she also volunteered for the Institute of Aging Friendship Line and the Association for Professionals Treating Eating Disorders while in graduate school. Upon completing graduate school, she began accruing her hours towards licensure through the non-profit Youth Justice Institute, providing counseling to adolescents in juvenile hall in San Francisco and holding individual and group counseling sessions for young women involved in the system.

When Laurel moved to New Orleans, she began working with children and their families, teaching them skills and supporting them with behavior changes at school and home. Once she gained LPC licensure in 2015, she worked for Metropolitan ACT (Assertive Community Treatment), completing assessments for adults with severe mental illness. Before beginning private practice, she worked with school-age children through Daughters of Charity (now Ascension DePaul Services) and spearheaded their school-based program.