Dr. Úrsula Castellano is a sociologist and board-certified coach. After receiving her undergraduate degree at the University of California-Berkeley, Castellano went on to complete her doctorate in sociology at the University of California-Davis. She has conducted extensive ethnographic research on criminal court reform in California, Ohio, and Chile. Dr. Castellano authored Outsourcing Justice: The Role of Nonprofit Caseworkers in Pretrial Release Programs in addition to numerous research articles on law, mental health, professions, and organizations.

Using her analytical and coaching skills, Úrsula is dedicated to helping mental health court teams design and implement effective treatment responses to persons with mental illnesses by breaking down institutional barriers and reducing organizational noise.

Dr. Castellano’s photography project with justice-involved veterans fueled her passion for visual coaching. She found that veterans’ photos of their everyday lives under court-mandated treatment revealed complex trauma histories before, during and after their military service. Funded in part by the Ohio Bar Foundation, her team recently produced Honorably Discharged, a short documentary film about the sexual assault crisis in the United States military.

Before earning her doctorate, she taught literacy in the Department of Education at San Quentin Prison for eight years and co-directed the prison’s family visitors center. Castellano is also a court-authorized mediator in the state of Ohio.

She is an associate professor of sociology at Ohio University.