Carly Tolbert is a passionate and highly skilled Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has spent more than a decade in service to children and families in community mental health settings in and around Los Angeles. She is the Founder of Kaftan Collective, an organization grounded in the practice of embodiment as a pathway to individual and communal healing for Black, Indigenous and POC individuals, families, and communities. With a passion for supporting children ages birth to five and their families, Carly has dedicated much of her career to promoting trauma-informed, reflective, and culturally attuned clinical care. She excels in a variety of clinical practice specialties, including Child Parent Psychotherapy, Reflective Parenting and Somatic Abolitionism —an emergent, embodied approach to anti-racism and culture building.

Through her clinical and consultative work with individuals and organizations, Carly champions equity, representation, and social justice for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color within mental health systems. She offers individual and group therapy services for BIPOC mothers and caregivers, as well as equity-centered Reflective Consultation for early childhood providers and Birth-to-Five multidisciplinary teams. Through these efforts, Carly aims to promote, create, and protect healing spaces for historically marginalized individuals. Additionally, within her Reflective Consultation practice, she fosters professional growth and staff wellness, supporting the formation of culturally attuned teams prepared to serve the community effectively.

Born and raised in Hyde Park, Los Angeles, Carly is committed to decolonizing mental health, particularly in South Los Angeles, where resources for holistic, culturally appropriate mental health treatment are limited. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Pitzer College and holds a Master's in Social Welfare from UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs. Carly is professionally endorsed as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and a Reflective Practice Facilitator II with the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health at WestEd Center for Prevention and Early Intervention. Outside of her professional life, Carly connects with nature as a resource and enjoys hiking and beach days with her family. Her two children, ages 9 and 10, inspire her to slow down and connect with the present moment. Carly takes pleasure in the small joys of life, such as watching hummingbirds in her backyard, sharing good belly laughs with her husband, and taking naps.