Oakland’s ‘Crappy Childhood Fairy’ sues after fine for practicing psychology without a license

An Oakland woman who has racked up more than a million YouTube subscribers as “The Crappy Childhood Fairy” is suing California’s Board of Psychology, claiming it violated her Constitutional rights by citing her for practicing psychology without a license.

Anna Runkle said in an interview Monday that she built a huge following by helping people address childhood trauma through the writing and meditation techniques she adopted to recover from her own youth in Berkeley suffering neglect and witnessing drunken violence.

Her lawsuit, filed June 3 in San Francisco U.S. District Court, came after an administrative law judge in April upheld the citation and $2,500 fine issued by the psychology board in 2024.

“If what Ms. Runkle does is the ‘practice of psychology,’ then countless authors, speakers, coaches, podcasters, and self-help entrepreneurs are practicing psychology without a license,” the lawsuit said.

“Ms. Runkle has never claimed to be a therapist, physician, or psychologist. In fact, she expressly informs her clients and the public that she is not a licensed health practitioner and that they should seek appropriate care if they need it.”

Runkle is seeking a court order saying the psychology board violated her First Amendment right to free speech and her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process under the law. She also wants the court to declare California’s psychologist-licensing law over-broad in limiting what self-help coaches, mentors, and other purveyors of advice can say, and to prevent state authorities from using the law against her.

The board declined to comment, saying it did not discuss pending litigation. The board has not responded in court to the lawsuit. The citation and the judge’s ruling were not filed with the lawsuit, and the board did not immediately produce them in response to this news organization’s request.

Runkle’s journey toward trouble with state regulatory authorities began after she launched her Crappy Childhood Fairy blog in 2016. A video producer by trade, she started sharing her healing practices, life skills and philosophy in group video sessions, and on her YouTube channel.

She’s written two books, conducted in-person workshops, and sells online courses on topics including “Healing Childhood PTSD” for $229, “Dating and Relationships” for $219, and “Inner Power” for $70. An annual membership for $399 includes her seven courses, plus monthly webinars and twice-monthly Q&A calls with Runkle.

The citation in 2024 came as a surprise, said Runkle, 63.

“The first letter I got, I didn’t think it was real. I thought it was phishing scam,” Runkle said.

In her offerings, Runkle includes a disclaimer that she is not a therapist, she said.

“I really care about doing things legally and ethically,” she said. “I was absolutely shocked that they thought there was something wrong. There are charlatans in the coaching world — I understand the concern. But why me? I’ve been a good online citizen.”

An administrative law judge in February of this year upheld the citation, the lawsuit said. Runkle was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine, “cease all practice that requires a psychology license,” and remove from her offerings any treatment plans for childhood post-traumatic stress disorder.

During the February hearing where the judge upheld the citation, government representatives “made a lot of false claims,” Runkle alleged.

“They said I was deceiving people and telling them that I’ve cured PTSD,” she said. “Of course I didn’t say that. I do say, ‘You can heal from childhood PTSD.’ I will die on that hill. That’s a lot of what I do, is I give people hope, and I tell them my story.”

The state also assailed her persona, she claimed.

“They said that I was deceiving the public by claiming to be a fairy, which is mythical creature that waves a magic wand,” Runkle said. “It was one of the most abusive experiences that I’ve lived through.”

She believes the board took issue with her paid programming including online coaching, she said.

“There was a lot of denigration of me for charging money for some of my services,” she said. “I work 16 hours a day, seven days a week. This is my calling. It actually is OK for me to earn money for some of my work or all of it.”

The court has set a case-management conference for Aug. 25.