Living with chronic illness can affect far more than physical health. It can influence emotional wellbeing, relationships, identity, and the way you experience your body. Therapy provides a supportive space to explore these experiences while developing practical strategies that help you manage the emotional impact of living with a long-term condition.
In our work together, we may focus on strengthening emotional regulation during symptom flares, reducing illness-related anxiety and patterns of catastrophic thinking, and building greater awareness of the connection between mind and body. Therapy can also support you in tracking symptoms, preparing for medical appointments or procedures, and developing coping skills that help you move through difficult periods with more stability. A central part of this process is cultivating self-compassion and validating the reality of your lived experience.
Chronic illness can reshape the way you see yourself and your relationship with your body. Therapy can help you integrate these experiences into your identity without allowing illness to define all aspects of who you are. Together we may explore ways to strengthen your sense of agency over your body and develop a more compassionate and flexible relationship with it, even when symptoms feel unpredictable.
This work may include developing greater tolerance for uncertainty in the body, strengthening communication and self-advocacy with healthcare providers, family members, and workplaces, and setting boundaries that support your wellbeing. Therapy can also provide space to process feelings of shame, self-blame, grief, or past medical trauma that may arise from living within healthcare systems and navigating ongoing health challenges.
Approaches used in this work may include somatic therapy that supports the mind–body connection, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), trauma-informed care, and psychodynamic exploration, depending on what best supports your needs.
I have been working as a therapist since 2018. In that time have worked in many different community mental health settings including:
I have also been working in private practice since 2020, supporting a wide range of individuals, families and couples.