Compassionate Therapy for Chronic Illness

Online and In-Person Emotional Support for Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain in MN & WI.

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Canoes in a lake and chronic illness therapy with Shepherd Therapy.

When Your Body Feels Unpredictable

Living with chronic illness often means navigating uncertainty, fatigue, grief, and loss. You may feel frustrated, isolated, or misunderstood, especially when symptoms are invisible.

Therapy provides ongoing support to process emotions, calm your nervous system, find a renewed sense of hope, and move through daily live with greater balance and ease.

How Healing is Supported

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The Emotional Weight

Chronic illness often carries invisible grief, fear, and exhaustion. Therapy offers space to process these emotions with compassion.

Nervous System Support

Chronic illness can keep your body stuck in survival mode. Therapy helps to focus on calming your nervous system, and restoring a sense of safety and stability.

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Daily Fluctuations

From flare-ups to fatigue, therapy helps to develop gentle coping tools that support everyday life.

Conditions Commonly Supported in Therapy

Living with a chronic or complex illness is a full-time job that affects every part of your life, from your relationships to your sense of self. I provide specialized therapeutic support to help you manage the emotional complexities of the conditions listed below, as well as many others.

I recognize that chronic conditions rarely exist in isolation. Many of my clients navigate a constellation of symptoms that refuse to stay in one box. A condition like Fibromyalgia may feel like muscular pain, but it is rooted in the nervous system, while IBS is a digestive experience driven by neurological communication.

Together, we look beyond the labels to explore your entire system and the way these overlapping layers impact your daily life. Whether you are navigating a new diagnosis or a decades-long journey, you don’t have to carry the mental weight alone.

Systemic & Autoimmune

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
  • Lupus
  • Hashimoto’s

Immune, Allergy, & Airway

  • Asthma
  • Allergies
  • MCAS

Neurological & Sensory

  • Fibromyalgia
  • Tinnitus & Hearing Loss
  • Chronic Pain

Digestive & Metabolic

  • IBS (Irritable Bowel) & IBD (Chron’s / Colitis)
  • Hiatal Hernia
  • Diabetes (Type 1 & 2)

Post-Viral & Energy

  • Long Covid
  • Lyme & Co-infections
  • ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue)

Connective & Structural

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Hypermobility / EDS
  • Connective Tissue Disorders

Healing the Body’s Story: From the Storm to the Shore

THE STORM: FOG

  • The Identity Grief Feeling like your illness has eclipsed who you are, leading to a painful mourning of your former self and your previous abilities.
  • The Flare Cycle Living in exhausting uncertainty of unpredictable flares and brain fog that makes planning the future feel impossible.
  • The Invisible Burden Managing symptoms that nobody else can see, often leading to a sense of being unheard and deeply misunderstood. This includes medical gaslighting.
  • The “Lazy” Internal Narrative A loud inner critic that wonders if you’re actually “sick enough” to deserve the rest and support you need.

THE SHORE: NAVIGATION

  • Compassionate Pacing Learning to listen to your body’s signals and responding in a way that honors your limited energy units (spoons) without productivity guilt.
  • Reclaiming the Self Shifting from “I am my illness” to “I’m a whole person navigating a health challenge,” making space for your values and interests again.
  • Befriending the Body Moving from a state of bracing against pain and symptoms, toward a collaborative relationship where you learn to soothe your body’s signals.
  • Building Your Shore Cultivating support system that honors your current capacity, allowing you to stay connected on your own terms.

A calm space to pause, breathe, and find balance.

Steady Support for Complex Journeys

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Integrative Mental Health Support

We explore the emotional, physical, and relational impact of chronic illness to support you as a whole person.

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Collaborative guidance

You are the expert on your experience. I provide support and tools to help you navigate uncertainty and change.

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Lasting Change

Our work together supports resilience, balance, and a steadier way forward. Tools that you can incorporate into your lifestyle.

Common Questions

It’s normal to have questions about the therapeutic process. Here are answers to a few common concerns that come up.

Chronic illness therapy prioritizes the reality of your physical symptoms and medical trauma over “positive thinking” or traditional behavioral goals. While we may still work on cognitive and behavioral strategies that can help, they won’t be the primary focus of therapy.

  • Medical Gaslighting Therapy provides a space where your symptoms are believed and your “invisible” struggles are seen. If you do have some “secondary gains”, we will work on identifying and creating a strategy to decrease those.
  • Body-First Focus We work with your nervous system to find a baseline of safety, even when your body feels like an unreliable place to be.

Yes, therapy focuses on the emotional toll of your symptoms and the stress of navigating the medical system, regardless of a formal label.

  • Navigating Uncertainty We develop tools to manage the anxiety and “brain fog” that come with living in a state of medical limbo.
  • Identity Support We work through the grief, loss, and identity shifts that happen when your body no longer functions the way it used to.

We use a “low-spoon” approach, adapting the pace and intensity of every session to match your current physical and cognitive capacity.

  • Flexible Format If you are having a high-symptom day, we can focus on gentle grounding, keep the session brief, have the session on the phone, or reschedule.
  • Zero Performance You never have to “act well” or push through brain fog for the sake of the therapeutic process. Show up as you are, and we will work with that.

Therapy is not a cure for physical illness, but it is a tool to help you navigate the mental, emotional, and social impact of living with one.

  • Quality of Life Our goal is to decrease the suffering associated with the illness, helping you find moments of ease and agency.
  • Advocacy We build the emotional resilience needed to advocate for yourself within the healthcare system and in your personal relationships.

Detailed information regarding session rates and payment options can be found on my FAQ & Fees page.

  • Transparent Pricing I believe in clear financial expectations so you can plan your care without surprises.
  • Consultation I offer a free 15-minute consultation to answer your questions and help you decide if my approach is the right fit for your needs.

Do you offer other types of therapy?

Yes, check out the comprehensive integrative mental health therapy services, trauma therapy and anxiety therapy.

Ready to Feel Heard and Understood?

Compassionate therapy from a therapist who “gets it.”

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Consultation