CP Handler, LCSW, LISW-S

About CP Handler, LCSW

Welcome

Welcome. I’m CP Handler, a therapist who believes deeply in the healing power of human connection. My work is grounded in presence, compassion, and the belief that every person carries an innate capacity to grow, repair, and reclaim their life. I meet clients with warmth, honesty, and respect, creating a space where your story can be held with care and your healing can unfold at your pace.

Who I Am

CP is a client-centered, humanistic therapist who believes that it is the human within the therapist that creates the space for recovery and self-actualization. Her work is rooted in a holistic appreciation for the mind-body connection, shaped by years of serving vastly different populations. Early in her career, CP discovered that trauma and mental-health struggles do not discriminate, and she continues to hold a constant sense of awe for the human spirit and its unwavering fight to thrive amid adversity.

CP earned her Master’s in Social Work in 2010 and became licensed in several states in 2011, laying the foundation for a career defined by clinical depth, integrity, and service.

My Professional Path

After years of working as a therapist, clinical supervisor, director, and trainer, CP founded Resonant Therapies in 2019 to meet the needs of individuals and communities. The practice thrived for four years, carrying clients through the COVID era and accompanying CP through her move to Florida as part of the great Sunshine State migration.

In 2023, she transitioned Resonant Therapies into Ocean Counseling, establishing her Florida-based private practice. CP provides training and consultation internationally and is licensed to offer therapy services in Florida, Michigan, and Ohio.

Current Work

In addition to her private practice, CP works within the South Florida jail system as a crisis interventionist, supporting individuals experiencing suicidal, homicidal, and psychotic crises.

My Approach

My therapeutic approach is grounded in humanistic, relational, and holistic principles. I believe healing happens when you feel seen, safe, and supported – not judged or rushed. I work collaboratively, honoring your pace and your lived experience, while helping you reconnect with your internal resources and build the emotional freedom you deserve.

I draw from a range of trauma-informed and evidence-based modalities, all tailored to your unique needs. You can explore the specific types of therapy I offer here:

Types of Therapy

Outside the Therapy Room

When she’s not working, CP can usually be found boxing, watching Miami’s sunrises and sunsets, or writing poetry about the dichotomies of life and the ongoing opportunities for betterment and change.

Core Beliefs

The client is their own best expert. Your “bad habits” or current struggles once served the purpose of self-preservation and have allowed you to make it to where you are today.
People do not “self-sabotage.” They self-protect.
Each client has their own unique life with their own individualized lived experiences. Just as there is no “one size fits all” treatment for medicine, there is no “once size fits all” treatment for mental health.
The therapeutic relationship is at the core of any treatment and long-lasting change.
We are products of genetics, environment, and prior relationships. Learning about how our history has impacted us is a powerful gateway for awareness and change.
Addiction is ritualized comfort-seeking resulting from unresolved trauma.
Trauma is the real gateway drug.
The brain and body are designed to heal themselves when the conditions are right. The job of a
therapist is to provide those conditions for organic recovery to occur.
Humans are social creatures with a core need for social interaction and meaningful relationships. This basic human need will often override reason and bring us back to unhealthy relationships.
Neuroplasticity shows that our brain never stops creating new connections and developing new patterns. As we learn and practice new thought patterns and skills, we are literally rewiring our brain’s functioning.
We will never be who we were, but with the right resources, we can continue to become more beautiful, whole and actualized selves.
The human capacity for resilience and triumph allows us to prevail through our darkest and most isolating moments.

Favorite Quotes

A compilation of my favorite quotes. Click tabs to expand.

Healing and Growth

If you don’t heal what hurt you, you will bleed all over those who didn’t cut you.
– Unknown
If you listen to your mental health when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream.
– Dr. Christina Iglesia
What triggers you also reveals what you need to heal.
– Unknown

Human Strength and Resilience

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
– Bob Marley
She didn’t know it couldn’t be done so she went ahead and did it.
– Mary S. Almanac
Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.
– Unknown

Trauma

Healing trauma is like doing brain surgery on yourself but instead of being put to sleep, you are waking up.
– Michael Anthony (Think Unbroken)
A history of trauma can give you a high tolerance for emotional pain. Just because you can take it, doesn’t mean you have to.
– Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis
Unhealed trauma overrides willpower.
– Unknown

Perspective and Choice

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself, just as I am, then I can change.
– Carl Rogers
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
– Maya Angelou
There is nothing more freeing than letting go of what could have been and embracing what is.
– CP Handler

Addiction

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
– Carl Jung
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.
– Johann Hari
Addiction is not the problem. Addiction is the solution.
-Unknown

Mistakes

Mishaps are like knives that either serve or cut us as we grasp them by the blade or handle.
– James Russell Lowell
The only remedy for regret is a lesson learned.
– CP Handler
I never lose. I either win or learn.
– Nelson Mandela

Relationships

Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.– Carl Jung
In my early professional years, I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?
– Carl Rogers
The parent-child connection is the most powerful mental health intervention known to humanity.
– Bessel Van Der Kolk

Responsibility

There are primary choices in life: To accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them.
– Denis Waitley
Your trauma isn’t your fault. Healing from it is your responsibility.
– Unknown
Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.
– Bradley Miller

Coffee

I don’t know what I would do without coffee, but I’m guessing 25 to life.
Lord give me coffee to make the change I can and please give me wine to accept the things I can’t.
Coffee helps me maintain my “never killed anyone” streak.

Consciousness

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. – Carl Jung
Do not ignore your intuition. Its simply data processed too fast for your conscious mind to comprehend. – Arthur Conan Dolye (Sherlock Holmes)
Self-sabotage is when your conscious mind is ready for change that your subconscious mind may not be. – Unknown