HOLISTIC, AFFIRMING THERAPY · CALIFORNIA
Chronic Illness and Medical Trauma
Support for adults navigating chronic symptoms, medical trauma, and the toll both take on your body, relationships, and sense of self.
UNDERSTANDING THE OVERLAP
Chronic Illness & Medical Trauma
Living with chronic illness can be deeply challenging. Many neurodivergent folks live with both chronic illness and medical trauma. In neurodivergent communities, many have begun to witness co-occurrence (living with multiple diagnoses) of ADHD and/or Autism diagnoses with autoimmune diagnoses like endometriosis, POTS, Crohn's, and Ehlers-Danlos, just to name a few.
Women and those assigned female at birth often have difficulty obtaining accurate diagnoses for symptomatic treatment due to having their symptoms and experiences minimized, dismissed, or even blamed on other factors, e.g., having to do with body size and composition. Fatphobia is unfortunately alive and well in medical spaces, and unfortunately, many of my clients have experienced it. I (Lea) have, too!
Amethyst offers therapy for adults in California who are navigating living life with chronic symptoms that impact your physical, cognitive, and emotional capacity, individually, in relationships, at work, and across your life.
Therapy can provide support and empower you to grow in your ability to advocate for yourself, set boundaries that honor your capacity, and use resources and accommodations that provide relief and support in your life.
SOURCES
Harrington, A., et al. (2021). Familial co-aggregation of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autoimmune diseases: A nationwide population-based study. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Read the article
Instanes, J. T., et al. (2018). Associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and immune-related disorders: A systematic review. Journal of Attention Disorders. Read the article
Mikkelsen, et al. (2018). Associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autoimmune diseases are modified by sex: a population-based cross-sectional study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
HOW I CAN HELP
Areas Therapy May Support
Processing grief in context of chronic illness and medical trauma.
Processing grief in the context of changes in capacity.
Strengthening self-advocacy and direct communication in medical spaces, at work, and in your most important relationships.
Processing feelings of loneliness, isolation, and the weight of feeling misunderstood.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Why This Matters
Chronic illness doesn't just live in the body. It reshapes how you relate to yourself, your relationships, your work, and your sense of what your life can hold. When that experience is compounded by medical trauma, by not being believed, by being dismissed, minimized, or blamed, the impact runs even deeper. Many of my clients carry a quiet exhaustion that has nothing to do with their diagnosis and everything to do with having to prove, over and over, that their pain is real.
This matters because you deserve a space where you don't have to justify your experience before you can be supported in it. Therapy can't replace medical care, but it can hold what medical care often doesn't have room for: your grief, your anger, your fear, and the parts of you that are still learning how to live inside a body that keeps changing the rules. You don't have to carry that alone.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, I very much enjoy supporting adults living with chronic illness throughout the state of California. Much of my clinical experience over the last 7 years includes supporting folks living with chronic illness and medical trauma. This has been a part of my lived experience, too. And I am happy to share small self-disclosures if you find pieces of my story helpful.
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Therapy can be a meaningful form of support in addition to medical support for symptom management. Sometimes, folks experience positive shifts in their capacity once they gain better understanding of their bodies and limits, which can certainly be explored in therapy. Authentic communication and boundary setting within interpersonal relationships and shifts in the ways one communicates their capacity and manages others' expectations about their availability can make a positive impact.
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Grief, anger, and exhaustion are all super valid feelings and experiences to carry in reaction to living with chronic illness and medical trauma. I strive to create a warm and safe therapeutic space where you can feel what you need to feel, be heard and validated, and empowered.
ENDORSEMENTS
Endorsements
"Lea is so warm and caring, she's incredibly easy to talk to. Her relational approach and unique lived experience as a queer, neurodivergent therapist makes her especially qualified to help folks who want to be seen, heard, and understood."
Corina Bair, LCSW
"Having known Lea for over 10 years, I can firmly and confidently speak to her incredible depth of compassion, empathy and kindness. She truly embodies what it means to be a healer."
Micaela Krusemark, MS, LPC, YTT-500
Amethyst Holistic Counseling of California