Faculty Directory
Laura E. Captari
Assistant Professor
Laura E. Captari
Ph.D.
Contact
Email: captari@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-1188-2462
Education
- Ph.D., University of North Texas
- M.S., University of North Texas
- M.A., Liberty University
- B.S., Liberty University
- B.A., Liberty University
Courses
Counseling Psychology in Context: Social Action, Consultation, and Collaboration
Disaster Mental Health Counseling
Applied Psychology Practicum
Research Interests
Culturally and spiritually responsive treatment; psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy; group interventions; positive psychology and virtues; complex and intergenerational trauma; immigration and forced migration; adverse religious experiences/religious trauma; existential and spiritual struggles; collective approaches to trauma healing; therapist burnout and vicarious trauma; holistic well-being and flourishing; perinatal and early relational health; matrescence
Expertise
- Formative and Whole Person Education
- Health and Well Being
- Social & Emotional Development
Department
Profile
Dr. Laura E. Captari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College whose work explores the many facets of trauma healing. She completed her Ph.D. in counseling psychology (University of North Texas) with a child and family concentration, and her pre-doctoral internship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center/Icahn School of Medicine in New York. Her post-doctoral training and tenure as an academic researcher at the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute at Boston University catalyzed her specialization in culturally and spiritually responsive mental healthcare. In line with her relational epistemology, she has also completed fellowships in infant-parent mental health, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and group psychotherapy.
Dr. Captari directs the Trauma, Spirituality, and Flourishing Lab, which examines the dynamic inter-relationships between these areas across the lifespan. Her interests coalesce around the developmental, relational, and existential impacts of complex trauma and loss, with diverse applications such as (a) healing from adverse religious experiences, (b) mitigating intergenerational trauma and bolstering perinatal well-being, and (c) supporting the unique needs of immigrants and refugees. Dr. Captari's research brings an embodied and collective understanding of trauma into conversation with spirituality and positive psychology, examining the import of culturally embedded strengths, attachment processes, communal practices, and engagement with nature as potential pathways to resilience and flourishing, particularly for those who hold marginalized identities. She is especially interested in emotionally laden inflection points in life, such as matrescence or forced migration. Her research program spans psychotherapy studies, community partnerships to support collective healing, and formation-focused interventions (e.g., CHRYSALIS) to address helping professionals' risk for burnout and vicarious trauma.
Dr. Captari serves on the editorial boards of Psychological Trauma and Spirituality in Clinical Practice, and is co-author of Systemic Treatment of Trauma-Impacted Families: A Clinician’s Guide to Assessment, Formulation, and Intervention (American Psychological Association). She maintains a small private practice in Brookline and is a clinical supervisor at the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute clinic.
Select Publications
Captari, L. E., Sandage, S. J., Crabtree, S. A., Choe, E. J. Y., Zaeske, L. & Gerstenblith, J. A. (in press). Spirituality and religion in counseling psychology: Emerging developments and future directions. In L. Flores, C. DeBlaere, A. Pieterse, & L. Spanierman. APA handbook of counseling psychology, second edition. American Psychological Association.
Riggs, S. A., & Captari, L. E. (2026). Systemic treatment of trauma-impacted families: A clinician’s guide to assessment, formulation, and intervention. American Psychological Association. doi.org/10.1037/0000487-000
Crabtree, S. A., Captari, L. E., Guterres, K. M., Choe, E. J. Y., & Sandage, S. J. (2025). Therapists’ functioning and secondary traumatic stress emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods study. Traumatology. dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000576
Captari, L. E., Guterres, K., Oleson, D., Devor, N., & Sandage, S. J. (2024). Sources of meaning and hope and associated well‐being among psychotherapy clients: A practice‐based mixed method study. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 25, e12838. doi.org/10.1002/capr.12838
Captari, L. E., Choe, E. J. Y., Stein, L. B., & Sandage, S. J. (2024). Trauma survivors’ spiritual struggles and the anger of hope: A practice-based clinical study examining links with mental health symptoms and well-being. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 11(3), 235-249. doi.org/10.1037/scp0000376
Captari, L. E., Choe, E. J. Y., Crabtree, S. A., Sandage, S. J., Gerstenblith, J. A., Stein, L. B., Hydinger, K. R., & Stavros, G. (2024). The development and feasibility of a novel group intervention to support helping professionals in metabolizing suffering and engaging strengths: The CHRYSALIS program. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 74(2), 177-216. doi.org/10.1080/00207284.2024.2329565
Captari, L. E., & Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2024). Assessing and treating trauma impacts in religious and spiritual populations: Introduction to special issue. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 11(3), 195-202. doi.org/10.1037/scp0000380
Crabtree, S. A., Captari, L. E., Hydinger, K. R., Jankowski, P. J., & Sandage, S. J. (2024). Virtue engagement in contemporary relational psychotherapy: A mixed methods practice-based study. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. Advance online publication. doi.org/10.1002/capr.12856
Jankowski, P. J., Sandage, S. J., Captari, L. E., Crabtree, S. A., Choe, E. J., & Gerstenblith, J. A. (2024). A practice‐based study of relational virtues and alliance correspondence in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 80, 1323-1344. doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23669
Tesfai, A., Captari, L. E., Meyer-Weitz, A., & Cowden, R. G. (2024). Coping resources among forced migrants in South Africa: Exploring the role of character strengths in adjustment and flourishing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(1), 50-66. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21010050
Grants & Fellowships
Co-investigator, John Templeton Foundation grant #63654: Training and treatment integration research for virtue and flourishing in mental healthcare: A team science project. PIs: Drs. Steven Sandage and Jesse Owen ($5,220,551; $10,738,287 with matching funds) (2025–2028)
Co-PI (with Dr. Steven Sandage) on Peale Foundation grant: Positive psychology and formation-based flourishing among therapists and spiritual leaders. ($2,194,384) (2022–2027)
Co-investigator, John Templeton Foundation grant #62265: Applied research on intellectual humility. Site project: Intellectual humility among religious leaders. PIs: Drs. Don Davis, Josh Hook, Daryl Van Tongeren, and Heather Battaly ($249,712) (2024–2027)
Collaborator, John Templeton Foundation grant #61603: Mental healthcare, virtue, and human flourishing. PIs: Drs. Steve Sandage and Jesse Owen ($2,023,012) (2020–2022)
Collaborator, Luce Foundation grant #404027: Building and supporting resilience among frontline spiritual care providers. PI: Dr. Wendy Cage. ($500,028) (2020–2021)
Collaborator, John Templeton Foundation grant #61467: Christian meaning-making, suffering and the flourishing life. PIs: Drs. Liz Hall and Crystal Park ($1,241,880) (2019–2022)
Collaborator, Lilly Endowment grant: Trauma responsive congregations: Equipping thriving urban congregations to respond to collective trauma. PI: Dr. Shelly Rambo ($990,196) (2021–2023)
Collaborator, John Templeton Foundation grant #44040: Earth as a school: The effect of natural disasters on God representations via meaning making. PI: Dr. Jamie Aten ($1,887,209) (2015–2018)