My Lived Experience with Illness & Disability:

The most significant contributor to my work as a social worker and psychotherapist are my own challenges with chronic pain and illness. Navigating the medical system and adapting to life with unique disabilities have deeply shaped who I am and how I approach my work.

In my own healing journey, I found it enriching and indispensable to work with providers who shared somewhat similar medical conditions to my own. For this reason, I would like to offer you a glimpse into some of what I’ve experienced. Because medical language rarely works well to capture the full experience of illness, I prefer to describe my most severe episode of disability as my black hole and conscious coma years. Some of the specific medical conditions I’ve dealt with include Intractable Migraine & Status Migrainosus; Acquired Brain Injury; Post-Viral Syndromes; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Fibromyalgia; Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder; Dysautonomia/POTS; and Gastrointestinal Dysmotility. I eventually discovered Mindbody Medicine and experienced significant relief with this form of treatment.

During my illness journey, I had significant difficulty finding mental health providers willing to accommodate my unusual disabilities at the time as well as finding affordable providers with awareness and specialized training in supporting patients with serious, complex pain and illness. I hope to help fill this gap in the psychological care of individuals with severe pain/illness as well as promote disability justice in the healthcare fields. I have completed training programs in several specific mindbody and nervous system health therapies to supplement both my extensive prior education in the fields of psychology and social work as well as my lived experience with disability. I offer these treatment modalities for those interested; however, whether or not you feel drawn to the mindbody perspective, I would be happy to support you.