Cadence McCracken

Cadence McCracken (she/her) is a white-bodied, queer and trans poet, painter, and expressive arts therapist registered as an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC) in California. From scribbling angsty poems on the back of the bus at 15 to performing at college campuses and protests while touring as a performance poet and teaching artist, in her own journey, she has used visual art, dance, and writing to transform her own pain into beauty and resilience. After discovering Expressive Arts Therapy and graduating from the California Institute of Integral Studies, she now weaves in different art forms, such as visual art, creative writing, drama, dance, and music to construct a creative container for healing and embodiment.

Cadence is eclectic therapist who sprinkles seasonings into the hot soup of healing such as relational psychodynamic, narrative, and coherence therapy. She believes that much of our lived reality is a collection of stories about ourselves that we inherited from others, whether that is our parents and families, our cultures, or systems of oppression. In her clinical work, she supports clients in identifying these stories, affirming the parts that have helped us and finding new solutions to the ones that don't, "re-storying" their lives to seize our own narratives to survive and thrive.

As an expressive arts therapist, Cadence has worked in settings such as community mental health agencies, private practice, and residential treatment centers serving clients of all backgrounds. In her career as a spoken word artist, Cadence has performed everywhere from universities to protests and has facilitated poetry groups in settings such as schools, youth agencies, LGBTQ+ non-profits, prisons, and corporate settings. Cadence especially loves working with queer and trans teens who are discovering the audacity to claim their own authentic existence.

Cadence grew up in Virginia before moving to the west coast in 2010, and has never desired to leave. Aside from her own personal arts practice, Cadence loves long distance trail running and biking. She is a mom to two beautiful children. Cadence is also enrolled in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and will graduate with an MFA in poetry in 2028.

Cadence works off site for EBAT facilitating Expressive Arts Therapy groups (with a focus on Poetry Therapy) at Sutter Health Mills Peninsula Medical Center in San Mateo, CA.