Candia is an experienced Occupational Therapist specialising in working with children and young people. She has focused her work with clients from extremely challenging backgrounds, who have survived trauma, neglect, loss, often coupled with additional needs, neurological differences, sensory processing difficulties or learning disabilities. Her prior experience is in the charitable sector; offering therapy in mainstream schools, alternative education units and dedicated centres for vulnerable children and young people.

Candia often begins her work with supporting children’s nervous systems – helping the children, their families and support systems to understand their survival patterns and how they might be impacting how they interact with the world around them. Often the children and young people who have experienced trauma are easily triggered into their fight, flight, freeze or shut down pattern. Candia builds an understanding of their nervous system alongside the sensory systems. She works for them and their carers to enhance co-regulation and increase stability. This is done through play, connection and understanding. Candia is a certified Sensory Attachment Intervention therapist which is an integrative approach focusing on modulating the body senses that have been aroused or shut down through trauma and neglect.  

As an Occupational Therapist, Candia supports children and young people to achieve their daily and life goals. She works with children to understand their self-care, leisure and education/work/play strengths and needs, aiming to increase their self-esteem, self-efficacy and simply their enjoyment of the world. She does this work with a deep understanding of the effects of trauma, sensory, survival and attachment patterns on the everyday life of children and young people. 

Candia has training in retained primitive reflexes – assessing, understanding their impact and creating programmes of daily intervention to support their integration. She has training in the BUSS model which supports building underdeveloped sensorimotor systems. Candia’s other area of experience is working with neurodivergent children and young adults. 

Member of:

  • Registered and regulated by Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
  • Member of British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT) and College of Occupational Therapists (COT)
  • Member of College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section – Independent Practise (COTSS-IP)
  • SAI level 1 – Certified therapist
    É Bhreathnach M.Sc – Sensory Attachment Intervention Consultancy, July 2021
  • BA (Hons) Communication Studies with Sociology
    Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge 1997-2000
  • PGdip Occupational Therapy
    University of Brighton 2007-2009
  • MSc Health through Occupation
    University of Brighton 2008-2009