.png)
About Me
Hi! I'm Candice.
I’m a licensed therapist in California offering integrative therapy via telehealth for individuals and couples impacted by complex chronic illness, complex trauma, family planning challenges or chronic pain.
.png)
Before becoming a therapist, I had over a decade of both personal and professional experience in the realm of treating Lyme Disease, autoimmunity and neuroimmune illness.
While working as a medical assistant and case manager in an integrative medical setting, I supported clients navigating the arduous journey of diagnosis, treatment and recovery from tick borne disease. This experience not only gave me a window into what it means to live with systemic chronic illness, but it also highlighted the (traumatic) patient experience as patients navigated feeling both unsafe in their body and in medical settings. While working for affirming, integrative physicians that work so hard to help their patients feel safe again after adverse experiences in healthcare settings, I noticed there was still a significant gap in informed therapeutic care for those struggling. It became my priority and my goal to fill that gap and become a Lyme literate psychotherapist, informed in medical trauma, integrative trauma recovery, and C-PTSD.
I have a personal point of reference for what it’s like when life stops in its tracks, health becomes an epic road block, and your physical body begins to feel like an impossibly unpredictable place to live. Crafting life around the unpredictability of health challenges is a complicated, often depleting experience that involves grieving, and re-mustering endurance and resilience over and over again.
I’ve honed a toolbox to help support clients process the profound impacts physical trauma has on the nervous system, as well as to navigate secondary repair of relationship not only with others, but with one’s own body, inner terrain and sense of self. It’s my goal to combat the profound isolation of a life impacted by complex trauma, chronic illness, fertility challenges or chronic pain. My second goal is to support you in safely coming home to yourself, and recovering the parts of you that feel lost to trauma and adversity.
My approach is affirming, relational, integrative and somatic.
I don’t believe that therapy is one size fits all; I believe it requires an individualized adaptation of modalities to meet each client’s unique experience and unique needs. I aim to create a soft spot to land for clients who have been in prolonged dysregulation, a safe space for anyone feeling disenfranchised, unheard and alone. I meet you in this space with compassionate curiosity and a deep belief in your resilience. Here, you can give voice to your lived experiences, and they will be held with care, as you feel into what it’s like for these stories to live outside of the confines of your body and mind. Next, we’ll begin to repair your relationship with your inner terrain, as I respect the unique language of your nervous system, the wisdom that lives in your body, and support you in crafting a grounded connection to both.
If the description of my work resonates with you, and you’re looking for a soft spot to land and an affirming space to heal, please reach out. We can schedule a 15 minute (no charge) phone consultation to chat about what working together could look like. I look forward to hearing your story.