Chronic Pain or Illness

Supporting individuals & families in all realms of Health, Healing & Life Transitions - coping with chronic illness; managing acute physical or mental illness; adjusting to chronic physical or mental health diagnosis; living better with chronic pain; healing after medical treatments; navigating uncertainty; managing cancer survivorship & chronic disease management; facing dying authentically.

As a therapist living with chronic illness myself, I know firsthand how chronic pain can impact mental health and daily functioning. I provide a uniquely empathetic space for those struggling to adjust to limitations, grieve losses, and build resilience amid chronic symptoms. My specialty is helping you rediscover and reconnect to your sense of wholeness beyond illness. I assist in finding small ways to care for your spirit so you can experience joy and meaning even on the hardest days.

Issues resulting from medical conditions often include: grief and loss, family conflict, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, loss of routine and/or job, trauma, loss of identify, and more. In my work with these populations, I processed their feelings regarding the changes, how to incorporate the changes, while working with them to prevent their entire lives from BEING these changes.

I have helped hundreds of clients who are actively suffering from chronic pain, chronic illnesses, and debilitating disabilities. Coming-to-terms with your physical struggles, learning how to navigate life with them, and finding your personal strengths all are very useful ways to beat the depression and anxiety that these issues cause. Good therapy can help.

Managing chronic illness as a woman comes with unique challenges, and I specialize in providing empathetic support. In our collaborative journey, we develop coping strategies and a personalized approach to enhance your overall well-being. With a focus on resilience, I guide you in navigating the complexities of living with chronic conditions. Together, we'll empower you to thrive and find joy despite the challenges that chronic illness may bring.

Chronic illness, fatigue, and/or pain can be incredibly overwhelming, and isolating. Do you find yourself stressing over self-care, feeling unsupported by loved ones, struggling to balance work, rest, relationships and your passions? Do you feel fragmented from your sense of self and the things that bring you joy? You are not alone! Through mindfulness techniques, nervous system support, and expressive art practices I hope to support you in experiencing more ease, joy, and wellbeing in your life

My primary training and practice sites have been in pain clinics, HIV clinics, liver clinics, and primary care clinics. Across those experiences I have developed expertise in treating individuals struggling with a body that is not cooperating. I employ evidence-based treatments like ACT and CBT, but also work hard to address ableism, illness stigma, medical trauma, and other experiences that intersect with one's experience of pain and illness.

I have helped hundreds of clients who are actively suffering from chronic pain, chronic illnesses, and debilitating disabilities. Coming-to-terms with your physical struggles, learning how to navigate life with them, and finding your personal strengths all are very useful ways to beat the depression and anxiety that these issues cause. Good therapy can help.

I have extensive experience working with individuals who live with chronic, complex medical conditions. I completed my postdoctoral training at a medical center where I worked closely with patients in addition to training psychology doctoral students in Behavioral Medicine. I use mindfulness-based interventions and strategies to help my clients find meaning and vitality while living with a chronic health condition.

The mind and the body are connected in in a deep way. What happens in our bodies affect the mind and vice versa. I use my knowledge of the mind-body connection to help clients develop skills and self-compassion. My background is in medical social work and I also have lived experience of chronic illness. Together, these experiences give me knowledge of navigating health care systems from both perspectives.

This is a deep area of interest of mine that has emerged from my own experiences of chronic illness. I have come to understand my life in new terms and with new freshness, frustration, and love for this journey. I am immersed in personal study of holistic health and the use of food, plants and nature for healing. I also have the spiritual skills to support those going through the uncertainty and vulnerability of these intensely human experiences.

I have worked in hospital settings, assisted livings, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes for nearly 25 years. I receive regular referrals from surgeons and other physicians as I specialize in helping people live with somatic challenges.

After years of working with clients who have health-related issues, I myself acquired chronic health conditions that impact my day-to-day life. I both personally and professionally understand what it is like to adjust to these life changes, learn your limitations, pace yourself, and try to raise a family while chronically ill. Preferred issues to address: Fibromyalgia, Food Allergies/Anaphylaxis, Headache, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBD (Crohn's/Colitis), ME/CFS, Migraine.

You may have just recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness, or you may have been coping with one for years. You are probably exhausted and frustrated with how long it took to get a diagnosis or to find the right treatment. You may feel alone in your experience and like no one understands what you are going through. Therapy can provide education about coping skills for dealing with these changes and emotions, as well as a place to discuss and get support for your experience.

Living with illness, disability, and/or chronic pain can leave you feeling isolated as you navigate changing relationships, medical care, stretched finances, grief for what's been lost, fear about the future, experiences of invisibility/hypervisibility, and anger about how you've been treated. I work from a Disability Justice model, grappling with the ways in which our world often fails to provide accommodation and access, and how our lives become shaped by that lack of care and recognition.

I work with people who are chronically ill or have pain and disability. I work from a grief model to help you grieve the "should be" in your life. I can understand that it is incredibly lonely and sad to have to grieve yourself. I am chronically ill myself and understand the ups and down's that you experience. I use EMDR to process the trauma of being chronically ill and navigate the medical and mental health system that is not set up to support success.

My primary training and practice sites have been in pain clinics, HIV clinics, liver clinics, and primary care clinics. Across those experiences I have developed expertise in treating individuals struggling with a body that is not cooperating. I employ evidence-based treatments like ACT and CBT, but also work hard to address ableism, illness stigma, medical trauma, and other experiences that intersect with one's experience of pain and illness.

Disability changes your life. Many people live with chronic illnesses, and yet so much is unknown about our health. Just like supportive and affirming medical care, disability-affirming therapy can be hard to find. In therapy, we can attend to grief, identity loss, and shifts in worldview as well as more practical ups and downs of navigating life with chronic illness. It is important to me to bring a disability justice approach into therapy.

I am a Chronic Pain/Illness/Fatigue informed therapist. I personally have these conditions myself and understand firsthand the frustration of having to cancel/reschedule events and the accompanying feelings of shame. It’s so alienating everyday activities takes more energy for us than others, as described by the spoon theory, and we are disappointed with ourselves for not being able to complete something important to us, especially as pertains to our family. Coping strategies may earn spoons.