Chronic & Critical Illness Therapy

Chronic and Serious IllnessManaging fears, unknowns, and the healthcare and medical systems is exhausting and can be frustrating. Often, we are also managing the emotions of those around us. We are continuing to work, raise kids, deal with financial implications, and trying to live a "normal" life despite emotional or physiological manifestations, and despite a myriad of other factors unique to everyone's specific circumstance. Considerations around function, quality of life, and identity often also come into play. As with grief, it can be isolating and our community often doesn't support in the way we need. Compassion FatigueWhether we ourselves carry a chronic or serious illness, or we are caregiving an ill loved one, or we work in healthcare, it can take a toll to be the one holding everything together for patients, family, students, parents, and partners. Caregiving asks a lot and it's a constant balancing act. And even when you’re good at it, it can wear you down. If you’ve been living in that stretch of burnout where numbness and resentment start creeping in, you’re not alone. You can care deeply about others without losing touch with your own needs. This space is for reconnecting with your voice again. My clients are medical professionals, educators, and others, as well as individuals caring for family members. They are responsible for a lot and the exhaustion can be deeply emotional as well as physical. What Does Chronic Illness Therapy Look Like? Together we will work to understand and process how your diagnosis is affecting you--emotionally, physically, lifestyle, goals, hopes, plans. Sometimes we have to get our stress responses better managed. Other times we may be working through the emotional implications of our illness. Identity considerations and nervous system regulation also often come into play. I also work with loved ones of those diagnosed, whether a partner or adult child of a loved one with MS, cancer or Alzheimer's, and those working in medical fields. We will often incorporate things like:

• Talk therapy that can include CBT, EFT, ACT
• Stress management
• Trauma therapy
• Narrative therapy
• Somatic therapy and pain reprocessing therapy
• Mindfulness
• Anxiety management and nervous system regulation