About Dr. Laura Summerhill, LCSW-S

Hello, I’m Dr. Laura Summerhill, a Houston-based therapist and clinical social worker with more than 25 years of experience in mental health and social work. I provide evidence-based therapy for adults experiencing anxiety, trauma, neurodivergence, chronic pain, IBS and other gut-brain disorders, insomnia, and persistent overwhelm. I offer in-person therapy in Houston and online therapy throughout Texas, New York, Idaho, and Florida.

You’re not alone – I’ve been there, too.

My interest in this work is personal as well as professional. After years of being told to try harder, pay closer attention, and push through, I learned in college that I had learning differences. Like many women, I was diagnosed with ADHD later in life. I excelled in some areas while struggling significantly in others, particularly in environments that were not designed for how my brain works. Understanding ADHD and learning differences brought clarity, not because something was “wrong,” but because there was finally an explanation.

That understanding shapes how I approach therapy. I have experienced firsthand how trauma, anxiety, self-doubt, and negative self-talk can quietly erode confidence, creativity, relationships, and overall well-being, especially when struggles go unrecognized or misunderstood.

My clinical approach

My own challenges motivate me to help others. Whether grappling with anxiety, neurodiversity, insomnia, navigating the “Sandwich Generation,” caring for and losing aging parents, or parenting children with special needs, I’ve sought out resources and insights that I now share with clients.

My clinical work focuses on anxiety and trauma as they show up across the lifespan and in the body, including chronic pain, disrupted sleep, IBS and other gut-brain symptoms, performance pressure, and persistent overwhelm. I use a neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed approach that considers how past experiences, nervous system patterns, and current demands interact, rather than treating symptoms in isolation.

I also have extensive experience working with adoption and identity-related trauma. I spent many years as an adoption social worker supporting pre-adoptive parents, adoptees, and transracial families, and I built my own family through transracial adoption. I am proud to be an adoption-competent clinician, a specialized area of expertise that can be difficult to find. For me, parenting means an ongoing commitment to racial justice, advocacy around learning differences and limb differences, and creating space for early childhood grief, loss, and trauma.

Across all of my work, I have learned that anxiety rarely stays in one lane. It affects the body, relationships, confidence at work, and how we show up in the world. My goal is for therapy to be focused, collaborative, and paced to support meaningful change, not temporary fixes.

As a trauma-focused, anti-oppressive, anti-racist therapist, I’ve had the honor of serving children and families, older adults, incarcerated individuals, veterans, actors, artists, filmmakers, freelance creatives, neurodiverse and LGBTQIA+ individuals, and students of all ages.