She/Her
Background and Approach
CA License #154305
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My journey to becoming a therapist was shaped by both personal and professional experience in the world of complex chronic illness and medical trauma. Before becoming a therapist, I spent eight years working as a Medical Assistant and Medical Case Manager alongside integrative physicians treating individuals with complex chronic illness. During that time, I witnessed a significant gap in care. There were few therapists who understood the realities of chronic illness, and even fewer who were prepared to recognize and treat the medical trauma, relational wounds, and isolation that can accompany difficult or misunderstood health experiences.
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I later spent two years as a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor with Community Beyond Violence, further shaping my understanding of trauma, safety, resilience, and the ways difficult experiences can impact individuals, relationships, families, and the nervous system.
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My clinical work is rooted in somatic psychology, attachment theory, relational approaches, and trauma-informed care. I integrate Internal Family Systems-informed parts work, narrative therapy, imagery, mindfulness, family systems, and other attachment-based and experiential approaches to help clients understand the histories, patterns, and nervous system responses that may be coming alive in their relationships.
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I work with adults, couples, families, throuples, and polycules navigating complex trauma, chronic illness and pain, medical trauma, sexual trauma, reproductive trauma, fertility and family planning challenges, grief, neurodivergence, evolving sexuality, and diverse relationship structures. I also support partners and families navigating PTSD and CPTSD, disability, significant medical treatments, and the relational impact of loving someone through illness, pain, trauma, or major life transitions.
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My approach is collaborative, affirming, and integrative. I aim to see and tend to the whole person, as well as the relationships and systems that hold them. In our work together, all parts of your lived experience are welcome. We work to understand the history coming alive in your present relationships, identify the stressors disrupting connection, and develop practices for reflective communication, trauma-informed co-regulation, collaborative negotiation, and embodied connection.
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I believe the goal of trauma-informed relationship therapy is not to ensure that partners never activate or trigger one another. Instead, we work toward building the capacity to remain connected through activation, understand one another's nervous systems, repair relational ruptures, and create new experiences of safety and connection. Over time, your nervous systems can begin to recognize that you are finally living a different story.
My work centers on couples, partners, and families navigating the intersection of trauma, health, identity, and relationships. I specialize in supporting relationships impacted by complex trauma, complex chronic illness, chronic pain, adverse medical experiences, sexual trauma, reproductive trauma, fertility and family planning challenges, disability, and PTSD or CPTSD.
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I provide attachment-informed couples therapy, family therapy amidst chronic illness and medical trauma, premarital therapy, blended family therapy, and therapy for partners navigating significant medical treatments, surgery, pregnancy loss, sexual pain, or acute medical and relational crises. I also work with inter-abled relationships, relationships with mixed neurotypes, LGBTQIA2+ clients and families, and individuals and relationships impacted by childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences.
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I provide affirming partner therapy for individuals exploring consensual non-monogamy and alternative relationship structures, including couples, throuples, and polycules. I support partners in developing relationship structures that reflect their values, needs, boundaries, and identities while strengthening communication, collaborative negotiation, emotional safety, and embodied connection.
My clinical approach draws from attachment-based therapy, somatic and polyvagal-informed approaches, Internal Family Systems-informed parts work, narrative therapy, family systems, mindfulness-based approaches, psychodynamic therapy, humanistic approaches, Gottman-informed interventions, and Brainspotting.
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I also provide consultation and training for therapists working with clients impacted by complex chronic illness and for clinicians using relational approaches to understand and treat medical trauma.
Focus Areas
and Expertise
Attachment-Informed Couples Therapy
Partner Therapy for Non-Monogamous Couples or Polyamorous Throuples
Family Therapy Amidst Medical Trauma
LGBTQIA+ Fertility and Family Planning
Inter-abled Relationships
Family or Couples Therapy for Navigating Surgery/Medical Treatments
Couples Therapy Intensive for Acute Medical or Relational Crisis
Relationships w/ Mixed Neuro-Types
Therapy for Sexual Trauma Survivors in New & Healthy Relationships
Couples Therapy for Sexual Trauma or Sexual Pain
Credentials
California License #154305
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California (LMFT #154305) with a professional background spanning medical care, crisis intervention, trauma-informed services, and psychotherapy.
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Before becoming a therapist, I spent eight years as a Medical Assistant and Medical Case Manager working alongside integrative physicians treating individuals with complex chronic illness. I also spent two years as a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor with Community Beyond Violence.
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My academic background includes a minor in Somatic Psychology. I have completed additional training and continuing education in Attachment-Focused Partner Therapy for LGBTQIA+ partnerships and non-monogamous relationship structures, Relational-Cultural Therapy, Interactive Mindfulness Meditation, and Law and Ethics for LGBTQIA+ Communities, with an emphasis on ethically supporting and protecting LGBTQIA+ individuals and marginalized identities.
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My clinical work is informed by attachment theory, somatic psychology, relational and family systems approaches, trauma-informed care, and affirming practice with diverse individuals, partners, and families.
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In addition to psychotherapy, I provide professional consultation and training for therapists treating individuals with complex chronic illness and clinicians utilizing relational therapy approaches to address medical trauma.
Education:
MS in Clinical Psychology
Meridian University
BS in Transpersonal Psychology
Sofia University
California Certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor
Trained in Brainspotting
EMDRIA Approved
EMDR Training In-Progress (completion date August 31, 2026)
My Philosophy
My philosophy of care begins with a simple commitment: when you tell me about your lived, felt, or physical experience, I believe you.
For individuals who have experienced medical trauma, relational trauma, sexual trauma, attachment wounds, chronic illness, or other experiences of being dismissed, disbelieved, or unseen, being met with trust can itself become part of the reparative process. I believe therapy should offer a space where you no longer have to navigate the truth of your experience alone.
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I believe therapy is a collaborative craft. I step into the dark with you, holding an integrative toolbox, and together we navigate toward greater understanding, connection, and possibility. My role is not to impose a predetermined version of healing, but to meet you within the reality of your history and present experience while helping you build the insight, skills, and relationships needed to create something different.
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Relationships can become powerful spaces for reparative experience after trauma. In couples, partner, and family therapy, I work as both a facilitator and translator, helping each person better understand the histories, needs, protective responses, and nervous systems present in the room. Together, we strengthen reflective communication, co-regulation, collaborative negotiation, repair, and the capacity to remain connected through difficult experiences.
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I believe a relationship can become a soft place to land amid experiences that have otherwise felt difficult, isolating, or impossible to navigate alone. With intentional work, relationships can expand their capacity to hold illness, trauma, identity, change, and the many parts of ourselves that have previously gone unseen.
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Ultimately, my work is grounded in the belief that healing does not require leaving wounded parts of ourselves behind. Instead, therapy can help us create relationships and systems where all parts of who we are can be seen, understood, and held with greater safety, dignity, and care.
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-Candice Craft, LMFT
