Physical Disability

Coping with partial hearing loss, tinnitus, or chronic health challenges lead to fatigue and overwhelm. Irritation sets in and others don't seem to fully understand you. I will work with you to feel empowered and discover coping strategies to let you lead the life you desire.

I have been working with individuals with disabilities for the past six years. I specialized in rehabilitation psychology during my postdoctoral fellowship. In other words, I had solid training and have had some great teachers who have helped me understand how to provide therapy that is specifically disability-affirmative. My approach is flexible and client-centered, which means this might be the only place in your life where you don't have to be the one to adapt.

As someone with lived experience with a physical disability, I can support you on your journey from acceptance to adaptation. We will explore the beliefs about yourself that might be holding you back and help you reclaim your identity and the life you want to live.

I am a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, which means I have specific education, training, and experience in disability and chronic illness.

I help professional women who have chronic pain and/or chronic illnesses learn to be kind to themselves, to trust themselves, and to find ways to get the support that they need without ever being forced to prove that their pain is real or that they’re trying hard enough. We do not live in an accessible world, and this can be incredibly frustrating and exhausting. You are not the problem; you never have been.

I love working with folks who have been disabled for years or are navigating a "new operations manual" for their body. My approach usually involves working to make life more accessible or accommodating while also embracing yourself with compassion by unlearning internalized ableism or other messages about what bodies "should" be able to do. There's also lots of space for grieving the body that you could've had or used to have.

My work experience includes caregiving responsibilities, live-in, travel and hourly, for people living with challenging physical disabilities such as quadriplegia and muscular dystrophy.

As a therapist with a physical disability (hearing loss), I know how important accessibility is and how painful it can be when it is denied. In addition to lived experience, up-to-date trainings and conferences, and reading Disability Justice authors and advocates keep me in the loop.

"Sophisticated Hearing is a modern hearing care facility, provides personalized patient care in Bergen county NJ. Our professional audiologists are using top hearing aid technology to help individuals with the following services: hearing test & eval, hearing aid cleaning, hearing aid repair and more. We work with top hearing aid manufacturers to ensure our patients have the best hearing technology that meets their listening and lifestyle needs as well as their budget.

Disability can vastly change the way we interact with our world and how the world interacts with us. I understand this at a personal level. As a person with a disability, I understand that the world we live in wasn't built for my needs and yet I will make it work. In therapy we can explore disability, disability identity, and coping with the able-world around us. More importantly, we can explore what you want to do with your life and how to do it - barriers and all.

Oh man, do I know what it's like to live with a physical disability. I was born with muscular dystrophy. It can be so hard living in an ableist world, when all non-disabled people do is tell you you're sick, or you need to be fixed. It's so difficult navigating through messages of society telling you that you're not worthy of a full life. That you're a burden because you can't do x,y,z. I know those messages are hard to silence, but you are not alone. You are just as worthy.