About Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC
Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC is a faith-based mental health private practice located in Hamden, Connecticut, offering therapy, coaching, and clinical supervision rooted in compassion, evidence-based care, and clinical integrity.
The heart of this practice is simple: healing begins when you take a stand for yourself. Whether you are navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship conflict, family stress, life transitions, or spiritual concerns, this is a space where you can be heard, supported, and gently guided toward growth.
Our approach honors the whole person — emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual. Christian faith may be integrated into the therapeutic process when desired by the client and when clinically appropriate. Faith is never forced. Each client’s story, background, beliefs, and comfort level are respected.
At Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC, care is warm, honest, collaborative, and clinically grounded. The goal is not simply to help clients cope, but to support deeper healing, healthier relationships, stronger boundaries, restored identity, and meaningful change.
Meet the Founder
Itsuannette Canales, LMFT is the Founder and Clinical Director of Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC, a faith-informed private practice dedicated to helping individuals find hope, healing, and lasting transformation. Since beginning her clinical work in 2016 and serving professionally as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 2018, Itsuannette has had the privilege of walking alongside adolescents, adults, couples, and families through anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship challenges, life transitions, and the complexities of everyday life.
Known for her warm, authentic, and compassionate approach, Itsuannette believes every person deserves to be seen, heard, and valued. She is committed to creating a therapeutic environment where clients feel emotionally safe, genuinely understood, and empowered to pursue meaningful and lasting change. Her clinical work is grounded in evidence-based, trauma-informed care while honoring each client's unique story, cultural background, values, and life experiences.
Itsuannette's faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of both her life and her work. It is not something she sets aside when she enters the therapy room—it shapes the compassion, humility, integrity, and hope with which she serves every client. While she provides ethical, evidence-based care to individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs, many clients intentionally seek her out because they desire a therapist who shares their Christian faith. For those who wish to incorporate their faith into counseling, she thoughtfully integrates biblical principles, prayer, and Christian perspectives into the therapeutic process in a way that is collaborative, clinically appropriate, and guided by each client's goals.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Connecticut, Itsuannette is bilingual in English and Spanish and is passionate about providing culturally responsive care that meets people where they are. She founded Stand Counseling & Coaching with the vision of creating a practice where clinical excellence and Christ-centered compassion work hand in hand—offering a place where emotional, relational, and spiritual healing are all valued as part of the journey toward wholeness.
Beyond the therapy room, Itsuannette is a speaker, writer, and founder of She Stands LLC, a faith-based ministry and coaching community dedicated to encouraging women to grow in their relationship with God while pursuing emotional wellness, healthy relationships, and purposeful living. Through her writing, speaking engagements, workshops, and educational resources, she is passionate about equipping individuals with practical tools that foster resilience, healing, and hope.
Whether clients are seeking support through life's challenges, healing from past wounds, strengthening relationships, or pursuing personal growth, Itsuannette considers it a privilege to walk alongside them with authenticity, clinical excellence, and unwavering hope.
She believes that healing begins with one courageous decision—to take a stand for yourself.
Our Approach
Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC provides care that is compassionate, respectful, and clinically grounded. Depending on the needs of the client, therapy may include support with emotional regulation, communication, boundaries, trauma healing, grief work, relationship patterns, coping skills, self-worth, family dynamics, and spiritual reflection.
For clients who desire faith integration, Christian principles, biblical encouragement, prayer, and spiritual reflection may be incorporated into the counseling process. Evidence-based clinical care remains central, while faith is honored as a meaningful source of strength, healing, and restoration.
Who We Serve
Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC serves individuals, couples, families, and older adolescents seeking support through emotional, relational, and spiritual concerns.
Services may support those navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship concerns, family conflict, codependency, stress, self-esteem concerns, life transitions, and spiritual struggles.
Coaching, workshops, public speaking, and LMFT clinical supervision are also offered separately from psychotherapy.
Faith + Evidence-Based Care
At Stand Counseling & Coaching PLLC, faith and clinical care are held with respect, wisdom, and balance. Therapy is grounded in evidence-based practices that support emotional, mental, relational, and behavioral health, while also making room for Christian faith when desired by the client.
For clients who request faith integration, sessions may include biblical encouragement, prayer, spiritual reflection, and exploration of faith as a source of strength, healing, and guidance. Faith is never forced. Each client’s beliefs, background, and comfort level are respected.
The goal is to provide care that is clinically sound, spiritually sensitive, and deeply compassionate — helping clients move toward healing, healthier relationships, stronger boundaries, and meaningful growth.