Life coach sues California for requiring a license to speak

Oakland, California; June 3, 2026: A California life coach filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the State’s attempts to prosecute her for talking about mental health without a psychology license. Anna Runkle argues that California is violating the First Amendment by requiring her to have a license to speak with paying clients.

“California’s psychology licensing law is so broad and so vague that regulators can use it to prosecute virtually anyone who talks with people for money,” said Caleb Trotter, a senior attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “The First Amendment protects the right to have conversations and give advice without government permission.”

Runkle turned her own experience overcoming childhood trauma into a mission to help others heal and move forward. Through her company, The Crappy Childhood Fairy, she offers courses, webinars, books, and retreats that share the techniques that changed her life. She works with willing clients seeking alternatives or additions to traditional talk therapy.

Despite this, the State of California has used a vague and overbroad definition of psychology to punish Runkle for speaking with those willing clients. California defines the practice of psychology to include any service involving the application of “psychological principles” to understanding or influencing behavior — without defining what those principles are or where they end. A ruling in her favor would affirm that the government cannot use an undefined licensing statute to silence speakers it has not authorized — and that the First Amendment protects conversations and advice as much as any other form of speech.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Runkle free of charge. The case is Anna Runkle v. Lea Tate.