Candice’s life story eventually led her on her own personal counseling journey. At an early age, she experienced the practical and emotional implications of her parents’ divorce and understands the stress and trauma that can come from parental and marital conflict as well as the complexities of blended families. She also recognizes the challenges and pain of having had caregivers with addiction and unaddressed mental health challenges.

Into adulthood, she was widowed suddenly at 34 with 3 children under 4, her youngest with special needs. Because of that and other challenges she has faced, from parenting alone to relocating multiple times, and experiencing the loss of familial relationships, she recognizes the necessity of resourcing yourself and the desire to rebuild and flourish amidst immense loss. She has experienced the “both and” of looking back and forward. “I don’t know that any of us escape grief and hardship. But I believe, it’s about understanding how it shapes us, and what we do with it.”

“Working with me will be relational and collaborative. Sessions are person-centered which means you’re in control, and if you have trouble harnessing that, I will help you recognize what you need. I can help you improve emotional agility, begin to heal from trauma if needed, integrate personal and professional goals and pivot toward purposes that invite fulfillment and and peace and joy—that’s what we heal for . . . to recover the things that are sometimes taken from us or that are otherwise lost.”

Candice approaches therapy through a strength-based and attachment framework as well as being trauma informed. She applies several different “modalities” (or theories and methods of treatment) including Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), neurophysiological implications with attention to somatics (the body) and Solutions Focused Therapy (SFT). “I believe therapy is both a relational and clinical process that invites a holistic and eclectic approach. There is no one size fits all. Your healing is as individual and personal as your story.”

In addition to being a mom and therapist, Candice has over 25 years of collective professional experience in roles from higher education to international corporate sales and training & development to global non-profit management. Candice moved 6 times in 10 years between 4 states and Toronto, Canada, with her late husband as he completed medical school, residency & fellowships until 2007 when he perished tragically in a Life Flight jet crash while at the University of Michigan. Candice and her 3 small children subsequently moved to Nashville, where she began rebuilding her life. In the wake of her husband’s death, she founded a non-profit organization and spent a number of years speaking and sharing messages on personal growth, faith and hope. She returned to grad school at forty and received her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University. Her undergraduate degree is in Political Science/Sociology from Birmingham-Southern College where she began her track record for service and helping others.

As an extension of her non-profit, Candice established global partnerships, co-founding a medical clinic in the small rural town of Siaya, Kenya, which was the first project in a local community development initiative; partnered to build and operate a girls' home in Wakiso, Uganda, outside of Kampala which is nearing a 15 year milestone; and supports school-based initiatives in Nairobi and Wakiso District to keep young girls in school and empowered to advance their education and post-secondary careers.

Candice currently lives in Nashville where she is learning the ropes of parenting her now 3 young adult children post-high school as they launch into their their own new stages of life. She stays active with her 2 German Shorthaired Pointers and in the process of designing and opening a coffee shop.