Chronic Illness Doesn't Just Affect Your Body: It Hijacks Your Identity.

Some people don’t just notice physical symptoms — they absorb the emotional trauma of navigating them.

If you are the steady one managing a chronic condition, your nervous system is likely on constant alert. You are scanning for flares, bracing for medical appointments, and absorbing the stress of a body that feels unpredictable. Over time, this constant readiness becomes exhausting. You may function well on the outside, but inside, your mind and body are always "on alert."

Why Work With Me?

Practical therapy for the psychological impact of chronic illness

Therapy with me focuses on your nervous system and your sense of self as much as your physical symptoms. Insight alone isn't enough — real change happens when your body can finally relax and your identity can be reconstructed outside of your diagnosis. Together, we:

• Process Medical Trauma: Use EMDR to desensitize the distress of dismissive doctors, scary procedures, or the shock of diagnosis.

• Reconstruct Your Identity: Untangle your self-worth from your productivity and redefine who you are within your physical boundaries.

• Practice Sustainable Pacing: Build healthier ways of relating to work, relationships, and yourself without triggering flares.

I also bring lived experience to this work. Living with Chiari Malformation has taught me how to respect physical limits and work with my body, not override it. That perspective shapes my approach — sustainable emotional change over pushing past capacity.

Cultural Pressures & Overfunctioning

Your worth does not equal your physical output

Many high-achieving adults with chronic illness internalize the belief that worth equals productivity and that rest must be earned. When illness takes away your ability to "do," it can feel like losing your entire self. Therapy is a space to grieve the "former self," question those cultural assumptions, and reconstruct an identity that your nervous system can actually sustain.

What You Can Expect

Therapy that meets you where you are

• EMDR and Evidence-Based Therapy tailored to medical PTSD and health-related anxiety

• Tools for managing stress, overextension, and the emotional exhaustion of illness.

• A calm, regulated space to explore identity loss and build healthier coping routines

• Telehealth sessions for adults across California

Who I Work With

Therapy for the overextended and overstimulated

II help high-functioning adults who are exhausted from carrying the invisible weight of a chronic condition. You are capable and empathetic, but your nervous system has been on overdrive trying to manage your health. Together, we create strategies that allow you to:

• Stay connected to your life without overloading your body.

• Process the grief of identity loss without getting stuck in it.

• Feel grounded while maintaining your empathy and competence.

You Don’t Have to Carry It All Alone

You deserve to feel steadier

If this resonates, I invite you to reach out. Therapy can be the space where you slow down, reclaim your energy, and finally reconstruct who you are beyond your diagnosis — without giving up your compassion or capability.