Medical Crisis & Chronic Illness Support

• Are you experiencing a medical crisis, or received a medical diagnosis, that has caused you to feel anxious or overwhelmed?
• Do you struggle to explain your health challenges to family or friends who don’t seem to understand?
• Have you worried about the future of your health and are anxious about upcoming tests or treatments?

Health issues impact almost everyone at some point in our lives, either through one’s own illness or injury directly, or indirectly through the experiences of illness or injury of a friend or family member. Illness can be classified as acute, chronic, and/or terminal. Medical crisis counseling and chronic pain support services are a unique area of counseling specialized to address the needs of individuals coping with an acute health crisis or injury, or a chronic illness or terminal health diagnosis.

The onset of a medical crisis, injury or health diagnosis may result in initial feelings of fear, sadness, anxiety or anger. It is normal to feel overwhelmed when faced with the vulnerability of one’s own health, and the experience is not easy to navigate alone. By developing a team of professionals, including support services with a therapist, you can move from a reactive, to active and proactive, state in your own healthcare decisions. Therapy can be a safe and neutral place for individuals to process this and those who experience health challenges can benefit from talking about their experiences and feelings.

Often clients comment on their health challenges with the following statements:
“I can’t believe this has happened. I’m just in shock and don’t know what to do.”
“I worry about my family and I don’t want to talk about what I am feeling with them because I feel like I need to stay strong. I don’t want them to be afraid or worry about me.”
“What am I going to do now? My whole life and identity has changed.”
“Because my illness is “invisible” to other people, they dismiss my pain and that makes me feel angry and alone.”

It can be incredibly difficult and challenging to cope with chronic pain or a medical crisis, and you do not need to experience it alone.