Issues I support

I work with clients facing a wide range of challenges related to their health, wellbeing, chronic illness, chronic pain, trauma, and long-term stress. Below are some of the most common issues I help people navigate.

Chronic Illness and Long-Term Health Conditions

You have a hard time coping with long-term health problems or a chronic illness (e.g. heart disease, stroke, cancer, CFS/ME, an auto-immune disorder, EDS, long-Covid, lung disease etc.) and it's affecting your quality of your life in a number of ways; it may cause you ongoing pain and fatigue, impact on your sleep, reduce your mobility, affect your ability to work, cause you to become less independent and more socially isolated, affect how you see yourself, e.g. your identity, body image and self-esteem and cause feelings of anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, anger, a lack of meaning and purpose, suicidal ideation, and spiritual distress. You may even grieve for the life you once had but are no longer able to live and you may worry about future uncertainties. Indeed, maybe you've recovered from an illness or some kind of health event (what we often refer to as survivorship) and want to process what happened to you and work on how to move forward.  For more on Health Related Quality of Life, please click here.​
​
Chronic Pain and Other Symptoms

You have not been given a clear medical diagnosis but live with chronic pain, fatigue, or other persistent physical symptoms with no identifiable cause. This experience can be frightening, confusing, frustrating and deeply overwhelming, and is linked to medical gaslighting which can be extremely traumatic. I provide support for people living with chronic pain syndromes, medically unexplained symptoms, Mind-Body Syndrome and neuroplastic pain (also called central sensitisation or persistent pain). For more on my approach to chronic pain, click here. You can also read more about Mind-Body Syndrome and Neuroplastic Pain here.

Trauma and Traumatic Grief

You have experienced trauma in you life, either as a direct result of your health issues or at a previous point in your life. Perhaps you have experienced medical trauma (e.g. the effects of 'medical gaslighting', a medical crisis, surgery, or an invasive procedure), or other traumatic experiences such as an accident or violence, and you want to process, heal and move forward from that. In addition, all trauma involves some kind of loss and that loss may or may not be traumatic in nature.

Narcissistic/Domestic Abuse and Childhood Adversity

You’re a survivor of narcissistic abuse, domestic abuse, or childhood trauma, and you're now dealing with the emotional and physical consequences. Narcissistic or domestic abuse is commonly related to some pretty significant health issues such as gastrointestinal distress, body aches and pain. Ongoing childhood adverse experiences has been shown to correlate strongly with ill health in adulthood. You can read more about the effect of childhood abuse on adult health here, and the effect of narcissistic abuse on health here. Ongoing childhood adverse experiences are also related to Mind-Body Syndrome. You can read more about that here.

Caregiver Burnout and Grief

You're caring for a loved one or a friend with a long-term illness and have a hard time with the anticipatory grief, stress and burnout that often comes with that. Or perhaps someone has passed away and you're finding it difficult to cope with the situation or with the grief and you need someone to walk beside you on that journey.
​
Stress and Loss

You're experiencing overwhelming stress, major life changes, or unexpected losses that has left you feeling destabilised and unsure how to cope. I help clients who want to navigate transitions, build resilience, develop new coping strategies, reduce overwhelm, and restore a sense of emotional and physical balance.
​
If you feel you are struggling with any of these issues or something else related to how you cope with your illness or situation, you may benefit from therapy and some extra support. Click here for more information about my approach including information about fees.