Chronic Pain or Illness

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.

Life with chronic pain can be overwhelming and isolating. You grieve the life that you once had and the people and things that were once dear to you. I can help you manage your pain, change your relationship with your pain, and rediscover your life. I live with a chronic pain syndrome and know firsthand how pervasive and infuriating it can be.

From 1999-2018 I worked as a social worker in each segment of the health and mental health care system; hospitals, homecare, short term rehab, long term care, hospice, community mental health, inpatient psychiatric care, and other settings providing case management, counseling, therapy and other services to those in need. I also live with a number of chronic health conditions and am involved with the Ehlers Danlos society, Spinal Leak Foundation and Dysautonomia International.

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.

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 worked in medical and geriatric social work for over five years. In these practice settings, I gained familiarity with the psychosocial impact of chronic illness, chronic pain, and adjustment to changes in ability. I am familiar with many medical conditions, including cancer, POTS, macular degeneration and other forms of low vision, renal disease and organ transplant, and Alzheimer's and other dementias.

Chronic pain and illness suck. They just do. But I can help you to find coping skills to make them suck less (because they're unfortunately never going away). As a fellow "spoonie", I can relate to the feelings of depression, jealousy when you can't do what your friends are doing, and anger at your body and the world for getting this chronic pain or illness.

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.

Living with chronic illness or traumatic stress, one might feel overwhelmed and tense on a regular basis or trend more toward feeling numb and shut down, perhaps even dissociated, but regardless of how one's experiences show up in their bodies, one thing remains the same: Being “inside ourselves,” with our thoughts, feelings and emotions, feels scary, confusing and painful. Purposefully creating a sense of safety inside ourselves after trauma, illness or crisis can be likened to returning home.

Chronic pain can be so isolating, and can contribute to depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. My approach to pain is multifaceted, including cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and somatic movement. I'll help you identify triggers, develop self care skills, and learn how to regulate your nervous system so that pain will be less intense. I will also offer you deep empathy and compassion, and a safe space in which to be honest about your difficulties.

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.

Living with chronic illness or pain involves regular battles with health insurance companies, figuring out whether dishes or laundry are more crucial when you don’t have enough energy for both, and chronic fatigue no amount of coffee can fix. Here you can get the support you’ve been needing with a therapist who understands the challenges of living with chronic illness in a world that assumes every illness can be cured by a visit to the pharmacist, or through strategic application of turmeric.

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 and supervising psychology doctoral students in a Behavioral Medicine program. I use mindfulness-based interventions and strategies to help those live rich, meaningful lives despite

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.

Receiving a medical diagnosis can be life altering. Countless medical appointments, new medications, attempting to maintain some sort of normalcy while feeling frustrated, isolated and perhaps grieving the life you once knew. My own medical struggles and my professional experience have allowed me to connect with my clients and help them move through these difficult moments.

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.

I also work with clients who have been diagnosed with one or more chronic illnesses. They often experience symptoms of anxiety or depression due to the toll that the illness has taken on their lives. We work together to develop a plan to decrease their anxiety and depression and to help them cope with the symptoms of their illness. We also work to help them increase their support network, and to become more willing to ask for help from others since this can often be difficult for them.

Fibromyalgia, Food Allergies/Anaphylaxis, Headache, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBD (Crohn's/Colitis), Infertility, ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Migraine

I am health psychologist and have worked with people with chronic illness or life limiting illnesses like cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes, injuries, amputations, functional neurological conditions, GI diseases, as well as many others. I also have worked with clients and their families at the end of their life. Coping with physical symptoms and medical systems can be incredibly stressful and therapy can help improve quality of life while living with medical challenges.

I have had extensive experience and training in working with individuals navigating chronic pain and illness. I've worked with a variety of diagnoses from arthritis to cancer, and believe therapy can give us the tools to take some control back and find meaning again.