Meet Cannie
Dr. Cannie Graham, PhD, MPH, MA/EdS, LPC, NCC
Founder, SPARK Coaching | Coach • Counselor • Educator • Speaker • Facilitator
For more than 28 years, I’ve been helping people navigate change, discover possibility, and create meaningful lives and work.
My career has never fit neatly into one box. I’ve worked across counseling and mental health, public health, higher education, executive leadership, philanthropy, women’s advancement, teaching, and organizational strategy. I’ve supported people through moments of crisis and major life transitions, taught and mentored future helping professionals, led teams and organizations, built nationally recognized women’s engagement and philanthropy programs, and spoken and facilitated conversations with audiences across the U.S. and internationally.
That combination of experiences is what ultimately led me to create SPARK Coaching.
Why I Created Spark
I’m particularly interested in the seasons of life when the things that once defined us begin to shift. For many accomplished women, there comes a point when the question is no longer simply, “What can I accomplish next?” but something much more personal: What do I actually want next?
I created SPARK as a place to explore that question.
Through individual, high-touch coaching, restorative retreats and experiences, speaking, workshops, and experiential work with horses, I create opportunities for women to step away from the constant doing, reconnect with themselves, and become more intentional about the life they want to live next.
Before launching SPARK, I spent nearly a decade in executive leadership at James Madison University, where my work focused on philanthropy, engagement, volunteer leadership, relationship building, and women’s advancement. I also bring aw wealth of knowledge counseling, psychology, health, and related disciplines.
Education & Credentials
My work is grounded in more than 28 years of experience spanning counseling, public health, higher education, leadership, and organizational development, supported by advanced education and professional credentials across these disciplines.
Education
PhD, Counseling & Supervision
James Madison University
MA/EdS, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
James Madison University
Master of Public Health (MPH), Health Promotion Sciences
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
BS, Health Science/Public Health
James Madison University
Licensure & Professional Credentials
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Commonwealth of Virginia
National Certified Counselor (NCC)
National Board for Certified Counselors
EAGALA-Certified Mental Health Professional
Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association
Additional Training & Certifications
Birkman Method
Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI)
Appreciative Inquiry
The Menopause Society
Additional professional development and training in leadership, facilitation, behavioral health, crisis response, and organizational development.
Experience That Informs My Work
I didn’t arrive at this work through a single path, and that’s exactly what makes SPARK different. For more than 28 years, my career has moved across counseling, public health, higher education, executive leadership, women’s health and advancement, teaching, philanthropy, and organizational strategy.
My clinical experience includes counseling adults navigating life transitions, relationships, anxiety, trauma, identity, stress, and emotional wellbeing, as well as providing crisis assessment and intervention in an emergency department setting.
I also bring a longstanding background in women’s health, leadership, and development, particularly the issues that become increasingly important as women move through different seasons of their lives. My work and teaching have explored women’s health and wellbeing, sexuality across the lifespan, menopause and midlife transitions, relationships and intimacy, identity, LGBTQIA+ experiences, leadership, confidence, power, and the often-complicated intersection between our personal and professional lives.
I spent over a decade in senior leadership at James Madison University, where my work centered on philanthropy, engagement, volunteer leadership, relationship building, and advancing women as leaders and philanthropists. Alongside that work, I have spent almost three decades teaching in higher education and have taught more than 100 courses across counseling, psychology, health, and related disciplines.
I am also trained in equine-assisted psychotherapy and experiential work, which has deepened my belief in the power of stepping outside our usual environments—and sometimes outside our usual ways of thinking—to see ourselves differently. That philosophy now informs SPARK’s retreats and experiential learning experiences.
Across all of these roles, one thing has remained consistent:
I’m fascinated by what happens when people give themselves permission to ask bigger, more honest questions about who they are, what they want, and what they’re ready for next.
That curiosity sits at the heart of SPARK!
But Credentials Only Tell Part of the Story
I’m endlessly curious about people and what makes us come alive. I believe laughter belongs in serious conversations, that great questions can change the direction of a life, and that sometimes we need to step away from everything demanding our attention long enough to hear ourselves again.
Whether we’re sitting together in a coaching conversation, standing beside a horse in a Virginia field, gathering with women in Bali, or sharing ideas in a conference room or on a stage, that’s the kind of space I hope to create.
A place to slow down. Get curious. Reconnect. And reignite what’s next.
Ready to See What’s Next?
You don’t need to have it all figured out before reaching out.
Maybe you’re navigating a transition. Maybe something that once fit no longer does. Or maybe life looks pretty good on paper, but you know you’re ready for something more: more clarity, more energy, more purpose, more you.
Tell me a little about what’s bringing you here. I’d love to hear from you.