… DIAGNOSIS OF ILLNESS
Chronic illness
Life-long conditions
Life-limiting conditions
Debilitating illness
Your illness does not define you. Your strength and your courage does.
Shattering experience
A diagnosis of a serious health problem can be devastating. The worry about ourselves, the future, and the impact on our loved ones can be overwhelming.
Guilt and upset
You may not want to talk to your family or friends about how you are feeling as you don’t want to upset them further, you may feel guilty about causing them pain; and this can leave you feeling more isolated and alone.
Brave face
Often, we want to put on a ‘brave face’ for those around us. You may be encouraged to think positively, to fight; and sometimes this can feel too much, too difficult.
This can leave you feeling you must be weak or wrong for feeling overwhelmed, scared and sad.
Safe space
My consulting room is a safe space where you can say how you are really feeling. Where you can cry, rage, or just sit without worrying that you are upsetting those you love.
Where you can be angry with the illness, the world, the unfairness of it without scaring those who love you.
Control
The course of an illness is full of uncertainty; moments of hope and times of despair. I can’t cure you, but what I can do is to help you find a path where know what you do have control over, and to find acceptance of those things you can’t control.
