Candice Mitchell, MA, LMHC, CCTP

07/08/2025

What helps your nervous system to grow its capacity for life, healing and truth:

1. Your nervous system needs to regulate your joy, goodness, and genius just as much as it needs to regulate your pain, grief, and discomfort.

Healing isn’t just about feeling hard things. It’s about building capacity for what’s life-giving, too.

You don’t grow nervous system resilience by only staying in pain. You grow it by letting your system become familiar with safety, ease, warmth, and trust with experiences that were once missing or foreign.

This is how you expand beyond your past: not just by processing what hurt, but by allowing what’s never had space to come into life enough.

2. You need to allow your experience to be as it is (permission), just as much as you need tools that ask for changing it.

Both are necessary.

If you only use tools to fix, shift, or “feel better,” healing becomes another form of control.
Your emotions become tasks instead of experiences. And your system doesn’t learn how to simply be with itself.

That’s why permission matters. Even just two seconds of full allowing, of letting the moment be what it is, builds capacity. It tells your nervous system: “This is safe. You don’t have to fight this.”

But here’s the other side: only staying in permission, especially early on, can feel too much.
It can lead to overwhelm or collapse if there’s no containment or direction.

So, your nervous system also needs tools for support.

When you ask your system to change without permission first, you often reinforce the very survival patterns you’re trying to heal: the pressure to be different. The belief you’re not okay as you are. The feeling of never being fully met.

If you’re ready to support growing your nervous system's capacity, not just for pain, but for aliveness, ease, and your own truth, the Self Attunement Audio Toolkit is your invitation.

Comment 'Attuned' or visit my profile to get started.

Love,
Ally.

05/20/2025

🌲 Our nervous systems, like trees, are built to grow when the right conditions are present.

From a Polyvagal and IFS lens, we understand that our systems thrive when four essential needs are met: safety, connection, autonomy, and authenticity.

When even one of these is missing, our system responds—not because we are broken, but because we are wise. Parts of us step in to protect. Our biology shifts. We might shut down, brace, please, or push through.

This is adaptation.
This is protection.
This is trauma.

Healing happens when we offer space for those parts to be seen, when we gently support the system in finding safety again—inside and out. From there, growth becomes possible.

Your system remembers how to heal. Let’s honor that.

04/07/2025

So often, when discomfort rises — a symptom, a reaction, an emotion — our first instinct is: What do I need to do to fix this?
⠀
But what if healing isn’t about fixing?
⠀
What if it’s about befriending?
⠀
Instead of going straight into “doing mode,” try this gentle invitation:
⠀
“How can I start a relationship with my body that is experiencing this?”
⠀
Your body isn’t a problem to solve — it’s a part of you longing to be understood. Shifting from doing to relating opens the door to a deeper, more compassionate kind of healing.
⠀
This is where the true repair happens. In curiosity, in connection, in kindness toward yourself.
⠀
Pause. Breathe. Ask your body what it needs to share.
⠀
The healing is in the relationship.
⠀
Tag someone who needs this reminder today.
⠀

03/27/2025

Anxiety pulls us away from our anchor, nudging us into stories that feel overwhelming and uncertain. In those moments, what we often need is not to push anxiety away—but to find a soft way back to safety.

Fear is not evidence. It may rise in the body, but it doesn’t mean danger is present.

The present moment can hold us. It’s where safety lives—not in the unknown.

Emotions arrive as signals, not certainties. They ask for our attention, not our allegiance.

Feelings can inform us, offering guidance. But they do not define who we are.

When we stay rooted in the now—in what’s here, right now—we give our nervous system the gift of connection and calm.

These gentle truths can help us shift out of anxiety and into a state of more ease, where we can meet ourselves with compassion.

03/07/2025

✨ Exciting News! ✨

I’m thrilled to announce that I now accept Aetna and Cigna insurance through Alma! If you’ve been considering therapy but were unsure about payment options, I hope this makes it easier for you to get started. 💙

You can learn more and schedule a session here: https://secure.helloalma.com/providers/candice-mitchell-1/

Whether you’re navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, or life transitions, I’m here to help you move towards healing and resilience.

Feel free to reach out with any questions – I look forward to working with you! 🌿

Send a message to learn more

02/19/2025

Creating Safety Within: 5 Self-Love Practices for Nervous System Well-Being

Self-love isn’t just about what we do—it’s about how we create experiences of safety and connection in our bodies. When we tend to our nervous system with care, we invite balance, regulation, and ease.

💨 Mindful Breathing – Each slow, deep breath is a cue of safety, inviting your system into regulation.
🥗 Nourishing Foods – The way we nourish ourselves sends messages of support to our body and brain.
😴 Restorative Sleep – Rest is a vital part of regulation, giving our nervous system space to restore.
🚶‍♀️ Movement with Intention – Gentle, mindful movement offers a rhythm that soothes and supports connection.
⚡ Setting Boundaries – Honoring our limits is an act of self-trust, reinforcing our capacity for safety and choice.

Your nervous system is always listening. What messages of safety and care will you offer it today?

02/13/2025

Healing isn’t about “just getting over it.” Trauma recovery happens in the body, in the nervous system, and through deep understanding—not through forced positivity or pressure to move on.

Validation, safety, and regulation are the foundation of true healing. If a method isn’t trauma-informed, it isn’t designed to heal trauma.

If you’ve ever felt like you “should” be further along, remember: your healing isn’t on anyone else’s timeline. You deserve a process that honors your nervous system and your truth.

01/12/2025

Your nervous system is always speaking—are you listening?

When trauma is suppressed, the autonomic nervous system takes on the burden, often expressing unresolved emotions through physical sensations or patterns of dysregulation.

From a Polyvagal perspective, this happens because your body prioritizes survival. It may shift into fight/flight (anxious energy, hypervigilance) or shutdown (numbness, fatigue) when emotions feel overwhelming or unsafe to process.

But here’s the good news: your nervous system can also guide you toward healing. By creating safety and building a sense of connection—whether with yourself, others, or even your environment—you can start to regulate your nervous system and release suppressed emotions in manageable, gentle ways.

🌿 Start small:
• Practice slow, rhythmic breathing.
• Ground yourself with sensory awareness (what can you see, hear, feel?).
• Connect with someone who feels safe.

Your body wants to heal. It just needs a map, a moment, and compassion. 💛

💬 How do you create moments of safety and connection for your nervous system?

01/08/2025

🌿 Anger: A Messenger, Not a Monster 🌿
⠀
Anger isn’t something we need to suppress, fight, or push away. It holds wisdom, inviting us to listen deeply to what it’s trying to say. When we stop labeling anger as “good” or “bad” and start honoring its needs—to be seen, heard, and understood—it can finally transform. ✨
⠀
What if we viewed anger as a signal, a call for reclamation, rather than a problem to solve? How can you give space for your anger to be expressed today? 💭
⠀
📷:

12/24/2024

Life feels so much lighter when you prioritize reciprocity in your relationships. This quote is a beautiful reminder that it’s okay—and even necessary—to set boundaries with people who consistently offer the bare minimum, don’t value your efforts, or fail to show up in meaningful ways.

As we move through the holiday season, remember that you are not obligated to gather with people who haven’t reciprocated your energy, care, or love throughout the year. Boundaries are an act of self-love, and they create space for the relationships that truly nourish and support you. Invest your time and energy into those who invest in you. Celebrate with those who celebrate you. And grow with those who grow with you.

Honor yourself this season by choosing connection over obligation. ❤️

04/25/2024

"💫 Embracing the wisdom of the nervous system 💫

You are not broken, dear ones. Your nervous system is simply doing its best to protect you. In moments of overwhelm or distress, it's not a flaw, it's a signal. Let's honor the incredible resilience of our bodies and minds as we navigate the dance of regulation and dysregulation. Together, let's journey towards co-regulation and deeper self-compassion. "

04/16/2024