Cancer and Chronic Illness Support
Whether you are just beginning treatment, have completed treatment, or treatment is ongoing, each stage poses a myriad of complex challenges and emotions that can be extremely personal to each individual – everything changes. A major medical diagnosis is a gut-punch that often leaves people breathless for a long time. After all, your mortality has been challenged. Your body is different, and you may even feel like it has betrayed you. Relationships may seem strained or awkward. You might be experiencing issues with family, intimacy, career and what used to come easy may now seem overwhelming. It is completely normal to experience anxiety, irritability, and depression.
Anxiety is defined by Merriam-Webster as an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physical signs (such as tension, sweating, and increased pulse rate), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one’s capacity to cope with it.
For you, it could look like: frequent tearfulness, panic attacks, inability to plan for the future, excessive research, isolation, irritability, sabotaging relationships, the list goes on.
If these feelings do not get better over time, become all consuming, or interfere with daily life, they might be a sign of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS). According to the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query, Cancer-Related PTS is a lot like PTSD (only not quite as severe) and can occur at any time during and after treatment.
What to do? You don’t have to figure this out on your own.
Schedule a free telephone consultation now.
I will walk with you and validate what you feel in a safe environment, without judgement of how you “should” be feeling. Together we will prioritize your needs and goals. We will find your inner strength to process what has happened, accept who you are now, and move towards acceptance, happiness and joy. We cannot go back in time, but together we will explore the thought patterns behind your emotions and restructure them to serve you more productively. The cards you have been dealt suck! We can’t change that, but together we will rediscover the joy in your life.
Caregiver Support
Your loved one has been diagnosed with a major illness, cancer, or dementia. Whether it’s your child, your parent, your spouse, or a significant other, it can feel overwhelming. It is your job now to take care of them, but you can’t make it all better. They are not behaving as you think they “should”, and this can be frustrating. Maybe they are even taking it out on you.
• Maybe you feel like you are drowning.
• Maybe you are angry and feel guilty for feeling that way.
• Maybe you feel like you just can’t keep doing this.
• Maybe you feel trapped.
• Maybe you’re just exhausted, and don’t know what to do or where to turn…
You do not have to figure it out on your own.
Schedule a free telephone consultation now.
I can walk with you as we discover how to manage these unchartered waters. There is a delicate balance that is necessary to be an effective caregiver. Self-care is a must and together we will discover what self-care looks like for you. I offer a safe environment to express your feelings without judgement. I will validate your feelings and together we will identify and practice tools that will help you cope positively with your duties as a caregiver and help you to be your best self.
I will help you learn to be an advocate for your loved one while still granting them the dignity and control that they need to feel whole.
If dementia is the diagnosis that your loved one carries, I bring to the table extensive experience working with both people who have dementia and their families. I will provide support and education to ease families into acceptance of the new reality that they face.
Let me care for you as you learn to care for them.
Major Life Change Support
Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroad. We might be considering a new career. We might be considering a geographic change. Maybe we have lost a loved one, or our relationship status has changed. Perhaps you’ve already made a change, and it could be a positive thing like a new job, but you are having difficulty adjusting or finding balance. Maybe the COVID pandemic has manifested itself as a crippling fear in your life or relegated you to a life of isolation and loneliness. Perhaps you just feel stuck and do not know what to do or what may need to change.
Sometimes grief is the cement that holds our feet in place. Death is not the only trigger for grief. As our lives change, we often grieve over the “loss” of past phases in life. We can grieve our youth phase, parenting phase, career phase, etc. Sometimes we have regrets which can also manifest as grief.
It is scary to reach out for help. Often, we are taught that we need to keep our problems to ourselves, and that we should be able to handle everything on our own. It takes humility to ask for help, but it needn’t be humiliating. I offer a safe space to process and grow at your own pace.
Schedule a free telephone consultation now.
I will work with you to define your goals and will challenge you to recognize the strength that already lives within you. We will identify the barriers that keep you stagnant. Together we will work towards acceptance of what cannot be changed. We will then identify what can be changed. We will practice and enhance the coping skills you already have and build new ones. Your goals are attainable and with hard work, I can help you drop the rock that keeps you tethered in place.
It is NEVER too late to make a change in your life. Anything is possible.
You deserve happiness, and joy is your birthright.