Our Story

Drs. Wise and Sanford met in Dallas, Texas, and completed their doctoral internships at the same community mental health organization. After becoming licensed as psychologists, they transitioned into leadership roles and continued to work closely with one another. As their career paths expanded, both started families and became more personally aware of the challenges with attending to their professional aspirations while honoring the relationship with their partners and role as mothers.

Similar to other families, the recent global pandemic provided an opportunity for Drs. Wise and Sanford to reflect on the demands of parenting, their intimate partner relationship, and career goals. Both quickly agreed that society’s expectations of balance were unattainable. Instead of becoming discouraged, a united passion was fueled to develop intentional services to support committed couples as they navigate being (or becoming) parents while staying connected to one another.

Believing that couples can flourish when a safe space is created to make the implicit explicit, Parenting While Committed was created to offer services that provide an alternative to striving for balance. Instead, Drs. Sanford and Wise collaborate with couples to establish rhythms that honor the complexities of our roles, values, and priorities at the intersection of the intimate and parenting relationship.

Team

Meet Drs. Wise and Sanford

Christina Wise, Ph.D.

Co-Founder of Parenting while Committed

Dr. Wise is a mother of two energetic boys and two less active dogs. She has been with her partner, Matt, for 15 years across 5 states. She works full-time as a Licensed Psychologist. They are active in CrossFit and drive their children to soccer, basketball, and ninja classes. Years of navigating the same parenting, partnership, work, and social demand her clients faced led Dr. Wise to imagine novel approaches to life and relationships and take a collaborative and systemic posture with her clients.

As a former non-profit leader, Dr. Wise developed training programs and innovative tools to understand families’ experiences. Dr. Wise focused on supporting the social and emotional well-being of students and teachers and creating a comprehensive understanding of families’ experiences through assessment and feedback. In these roles, Dr. Wise honed her consultation skills to effectively work toward client and organizational goals.

Dr. Wise is the co-founder of Parenting While Committed, a Licensed Psychologist, trainer, supervisor, and researcher with a demonstrated history of working in non-profit management. Dr. Wise worked in non-profits for 15 years in diverse facets, including as a Director of Clinical Research, Licensed Psychologist, Clinical Supervisor, and volunteer manager.

Dr. Wise’s role as the Director of Clinical Research and her specialties in conducting psychological evaluations and working with families who have experienced trauma has strengthened her understanding of how to effectively assess the family experience and methods of using tools that provide clear feedback for clients.

*Currently accepting new therapy clients.

Garica Sanford, Psy.D.

Co-Founder of Parenting while Committed

Dr. Sanford grew up in the Midwest and has been in Dallas for 15 years. She is the biological mother of the most amazingly compassionate, creative, and loving 7-year-old, and a bonus mom to a smart, insightful, and talented 14-year-old. Dr. Sanford loves being a boy mom and enjoys exposing her boys to new experiences and cultures via their love for travel. Dr. Sanford and the father of her boys were together for more than ten years, and continue to collaborate as co-parents.

Trained as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Sanford works from the deep belief that vulnerable and self-reflective relationships with ourselves and others, cultivate whole-person wellness. Her training in interpersonal and cognitive-behavioral theories, complex trauma, complicated familial systems, and emotionally focused couples therapy has allowed her to work efficiently with diverse clients to provide culturally relevant and systems-based therapy and assessment services for clients across the lifespan. She partners with clients to increase insight, attunement, and self-compassion as they seek understanding and transformation that deepens relational connection.

In addition to being a cofounder of Parenting While Committed (PWC), Dr. Sanford is a licensed psychologist at a thriving group practice and also provides executive coaching to leaders in the social and business sector across the globe through her independent practice, The Relational Space. In the past she served as the Training Director for an APA-accredited doctoral internship site for over ten years and provided clinical supervision to emerging clinicians.

Dr. Sanford’s journey to establish rhythms that honor her professional and personal passions led her to understand the importance of being intentional in how we show up within our different roles and relationships. Collaboration, self-reflection, and continuous learning are foundational aspects of her practice as a leader, licensed psychologist, executive coach and mother.

*Not currently accepting new therapy clients. Reach out if interested in being placed on a waitlist.