You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

Living with chronic pain or illness can feel like shouting into a void — exhausting, isolating, and unseen. I understand this not only as a therapist, but as someone who lives with an invisible chronic illness myself. I know how it feels when your pain isn’t "visible" to others, when even getting through the day takes immense strength, and when you're carrying a kind of grief that doesn’t always have language. This is why I do the work I do.

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I support people living with chronic pain and illness — whether your condition is clearly diagnosed or still a mystery, visible to others or entirely hidden. I welcome every part of you: the exhausted, the frustrated, the hopeful, the angry, and the deeply resilient. Together, we create a space where your pain is not minimized or pathologized, but met with care, curiosity, and respect.

 

I’ve worked with people navigating:

• Chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and autoimmune disorders

• Cancer and the physical and emotional toll of diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship

• Endometriosis and other reproductive and pelvic health conditions

• Persistent pain that defies easy answers — migraines, back pain, nerve pain, pelvic pain, and more

• Medical trauma and the devastation of not being believed or adequately treated

• Neurodivergence and the overlap between sensory sensitivity, chronic fatigue, and nervous system overwhelm

 

As your therapist, I offer a grounded, trauma-informed approach rooted in neuroscience, somatic healing, and mindfulness. I also bring the humility, humor, and lived experience of someone who gets it. You don’t have to explain what “pain fatigue” means or why “just pushing through” isn’t always possible. I already believe you.

 

Therapy won’t erase pain — but it can change your relationship to it.

Pain is real, and it’s not “just in your head.” But science shows that how we experience pain is shaped by the nervous system, emotional stress, and how the brain processes pain signals. That means healing isn’t just physical — it’s emotional, relational, and deeply embodied.

 

Therapy for chronic pain and illness can help you:

• Reduce pain intensity using somatic and mindfulness-based tools

• Manage anxiety, depression, medical trauma, and grief

• Improve sleep and restore a sense of rest and safety

• Build body awareness and deepen self-compassion

• Reclaim your story and your identity from systems that dismiss you

• Develop sustainable energy practices rooted in care, not shame

 

Energy Management: Honoring Your Rhythms in a Culture That Won’t

In an ableist and capitalist society, rest is often framed as laziness and productivity as moral worth. But when you live with chronic pain or illness, this mindset becomes harmful — leading to guilt, overextension, and burnout. Here, we do things differently.

 

Together, we explore energy management strategies that are gentle, shame-free, and body-honoring and practice setting compassion-based boundaries with work, family, and social obligations. Therapy becomes a space where you get to unlearn internalized ableism, challenge unrealistic expectations, and begin to trust the wisdom of your own body — even when the world tells you not to.

 

How I Work:

My approach weaves together somatic therapy, mindfulness, and Internal Family Systems (IFS), grounding our work in the wisdom of the body and the intelligence of your inner parts. I draw from Polyvagal Theory to support nervous system regulation, helping you shift from chronic stress states into greater ease and safety. We use mindfulness and self-compassion practices not to bypass pain, but to meet it with presence — cultivating softness where there’s been tension and acceptance where there’s been self-blame. Through IFS, we gently explore the parts of you that protect, push, or carry pain, offering them understanding and relief. Narrative therapy helps you reclaim your story from internalized shame, medical gaslighting, and societal expectations, while psychoeducation empowers you with tools and knowledge rooted in pain science and trauma research. Every part of this work is trauma-informed, spacious, and responsive to your lived experience — creating a therapeutic space where your body is not a problem to fix, but a relationship to tend with care.

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This work isn’t about fixing you — because you are not broken. It’s about softening the fight, building trust with your body, and creating space to rest and heal in a world that rarely makes room for either. You are whole. You are worthy of care. And you don’t have to do this alone.