Candice ‘Dr CoopLove’ Cooper-Lovett, PHD, is a multi-hyphenate, trauma informed powerhouse. We got the chance to catch up with her and learn more about what sparked her journey into sex therapy, consultancy, tantra healing and the new workshop series she is working on to reconnect women with their Yonis.
Candice is also featured in our new Shushbox Support Network - an evergrowing list of practitioners that actualise healing in it's many forms to help you on your unique journey.
Let’s start at the beginning, what started your journey?
As it relates to therapy I got started when I was in my undergraduate career as a psychology major. As I got further into my studies I realized how much I had a passion for working with women and children affected by intimate partner violence. I also had an interest in sex therapy and was told that the best track for me was marriage and family therapy. That's when I did more research on it and realized how much it was a good fit for me as I share the world view that everything is relational and seeing things from a systems perspective when it comes to working with couples and families.
As it relates to my spiritual journey I had been running from my spiritual gifts for a long while not knowing what to do or understanding what I was supposed to do with what I had.
I had a couple of spiritual readings done over the years and all of them pointed me into the field of tantric healing work. They shared that I was not operating in my true self when it came to my work and the things that I could do to make an even further impact in the world. With tantric healing work I didn’t know much about it outside of the fact people could have sex for hours, but its so much more to it than that. I realized as I began to do the tantric healing work it was something that I was always meant to do, I didn't know that until I needed to know.
What is one thing you’d like people to know about your work?
I would like them to know that the work that I do has a lot to do with healing trauma (physical, emotional, sexual), healing wombspaces which is something that is needed in our field. I also work with couples on infidelity recovery, situational violence, sexuality and sexual issues. I also work with women, focusing on female sexuality and pleasure and for those who have a sexual trauma history helping them work on reclaiming their sexual selves and empowering them again. With my tantra work it's very spiritual and I utilize spirit to aid me in the healing work that an individual may need. I also do spiritual healing in addition to the tantric healing work such as directives for holistic interventions that can help a client. In addition to that I also offer spiritual and sexual coaching.
Tell us about P-Prayers?
P-Prayers is based on a book by Black Girl Bliss that focuses on rekindling women's connection to their pleasure center (their Yoni’s).
It speaks to the unique experiences for women of color. In order to help them heal from trauma and learn how to manifest a life that is empowering, as well as creating a life of bliss just by getting in touch with the one part of themselves that was designed for pleasure.
I’m doing a 5 week workshop for women based on this book with the hopes of being able to process and help women think and understand more about themselves and their relationship with their Yoni’s
Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to make it in the industry of healing?
I would first share to make sure that they have the heart to do this work. It's very rewarding work but also challenging at the same time so you have to have a good heart to aid in peoples healing. Another tip is to ensure that they have good self-care practices they’re going to need it as they become a vessel for a lot of people's pain, especially if they want to get into spiritual healing. Gaining a mentor in the field is also helpful as they can guide them in the right direction and minimize them making a lot of mistakes as some of us have done in this field ourselves. Having a mentor makes a world of difference. Doing research on what track is best for them is also beneficial, there are so many places to go when it comes to doing healing work, it's finding the specialty that speaks to them the most. Oftentimes folks dont care for general practitioners, they need someone who will speak to what they're going through and trust that they would hold the key to aiding them in solving their issues.
For more info on booking with Candice and her offerings, click here or find DrCoopLove on social media here