Chronic Pain or Illness

Discover everyday practices to help you thrive. Learn how to increase your self-awareness and design the best quality of life for yourself.

Did you know that research shows therapy for chronic pain is as effective as painkillers? You can have much more influence over your pain than you'd imagine and you can get back to living a full life. Like pain medications, therapy works on the physical body but it also addresses two areas that medications don't. Whether you are dealing with chronic pain or chronic illness, you and I will work together to find solutions so you can focus on living a vibrant, satisfying life.

Chronic pain and illness change your life significantly. Sometimes, it can be difficult finding answers from doctors and you can feel really hopeless about what to do next. Therapy can be a great place to talk about all of these experiences. I'm very open to finding a way to make therapy a helpful addition to any other treatment you may be having.

Chronic health issues are not just challenging physically-they take an emotional toll. Chronic pain and chronic illness can increase feelings of anxiety about the future and feelings of isolation. Therapeutic techniques included Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can provide interventions to decrease overwhelming feelings of depression and anxiety as well as mindfulness skills to manage distress in healthy ways.

Drawing from CBT, DBT, psychodynamic, and narrative-therapy based approaches, my work surrounding chronic pain / illness aims to build personally-tailored grounding and coping skills in order to support individuals' unique daily needs and, perhaps more importantly, aspires to develop a broader sense of identity/self as a part of ongoing resilience and acceptance of various chronic conditions.

We can work together collaboratively in softly challenging distorted unhelpful/exaggerated/unrealistic harsh judgements/thoughts/beliefs that appear during your pain. Just because we have a thought doesn't make it true. We can work together to accept uncomfortable emotions/pain rather than act harsh towards it. Our pain, although sometimes misguided, are trying to help us. Self compassion is powerful!

My work in hospitals has prepared me to help people living with pain,or adjusting to life changing medical issues.

I have specialty training in supporting both pediatric and adult populations living with chronic pain or illness and caregivers. I have training in psychosocial oncology, organ transplant, cleft/craniofacial, rehab psychology, & HIV care among other specialties. I have worked at a number of academic medical hospitals including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, and Children's Hospital Colorado.

Psychotherapy with clinical hypnosis has been shown to be effective for treating chronic pain to decrease the intensity of pain and how it may interfere with your life. My VA Hospital research Treating Chronic Low Back Pain with Hypnosis or Biofeedback is published. Clinical hypnosis has also been shown to be very effective for treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and hotflashes.

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.

Pain can cause you to limit social engagements, avoid meet new people and fear things that used to bring you pleasure. It can sometimes feel like a terrible game of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Stress tenses your muscles and can create a flare up of symptoms… but the our bodies naturally respond to pain with fear. When you’re living with a chronic condition finding a way with pain that allows you to live a meaningful and full life is a necessity.

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.

At least 10% of people with mild acute Covid infection are now thought to fail to make a full recovery from their symptoms and return to their pre-existing level of functioning. Long haulers as they have been colloquially named by the peer community in the US refer to the multi symptom, multi system post viral syndrome. As a former long hauler myself, now mostly recovered, I am working with those who have not in my practice.

As a clinical health psychologist I have comfort level and knowledge with many different types of illness and how they connect to mental health. I can also assist with advocating for yourself in the medical system or support in navigating these systems.

Are you living with a chronic illness or endless enduring pain? have you just received a new diagnosis for a illness you are trying to wrap your head aroud? I love to talk with folks about their feelings around illness.

Living with chronic pain and or illness can create stress on all levels of our being. I am here to help you on all levels with pain, diagnosis, chronic pain, and illness. In addition to multiple supportive modalities, I am able to provide mind/body/emotion/spirit support via hypnotherapy and doula services when necessary

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.

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 am a Chronic Pain/Illness and Chronic Fatigue informed provider. I myself live with Chronic Fatigue/Pain/Illnesses and I understand firsthand the feelings of shame and frustration when we have to reschedule something or cancel. I know how hard it is when your friends and loved ones don’t seem to understand your daily limits especially if you are running out of spoons, (Spoon theory)How we have limited energy resources and we expend more energy on basic tasks than healthy people.

Not unlike my education regarding LGBTQ issues, my family life brought me to understand the challenges of chronic pain and illness. I would have much rather learned this through formal education, readings or seminars, but unfortunately I was enrolled in the school of hard knocks. While I don't want to share too much detail online, I'm particularly focused and supportive of the challenges of "long haulers" or long-COVID/PASC, cancer and autoimmune disorders.