Grief & Adjustment to Chronic Illness

You’ve found yourself wondering: Will life ever feel normal again?

Grief itself is about loss. While this may include death, it can also show up through the many transitions we face in our lives.

It is mourning what was and trying to figure out what is as you go forward.

We experience grief in spaces such as:

• Death of a loved one

• Living Through a Pandemic

• Divorce & Interpersonal Estrangement

• Changes or loss of identity

• Loss of health, mobility, independence due to illness, injury, or pain

• Loss of safety

• Loss of bodily autonomy due to health, chronic illness, chronic pain, or trauma

• Facing systemic and institutionalized oppression, racism, generational trauma, microaggressions

• Missed opportunities

• Moving

• Loss of important social and familial support

• Financial loss

What People Living With Grief Need

• Someone to witness your grief

• Space to share your feelings

• Space to release any guilt and self-judgment you may be holding onto

• Tending to your wounds

• Integrating pain & love

How Will Therapy Help?

My job isn’t to fix you because you are absolutely not broken. It’s not about what is wrong with you, but what happened to you.

My job is to hold space for you so you can process your loss without someone telling you to “look on the bright side”. Bright-siding and toxic positivity have no place in our sessions because it’s not helpful, nor is it realistic.

Your pain is real, complex, and valid.

No two people experience loss, transition, and pain in the same way.

In therapy, you don’t have to show up being “put together” or “over it”.

You can show up to this space just as you are because there is no “right” way to grieve. The five-stage process you read about? It’s not linear and is not a one-and-done kind of deal.

In here, you’ll get the support you need to process the loss you have experienced. You’ll also develop practical coping skills to manage hard moments and feelings so you can find your direction again.

Hope and healing are possible here.

Lana’s Experience

I have worked in various healthcare settings and have witnessed grief, loss & adjustment to chronic conditions firsthand. I have also had the privilege of supporting countless people and their families through challenges such as critical illness, chronic conditions, and end-of-life care.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I was working in two ICUs at a local level-one trauma hospital. During this time, I helped develop and implement a crisis response team to help our colleagues who were struggling.

I have also been a regularly featured guest on James Fabin’s show DadviceTV, where we talk about issues facing people living with chronic conditions, such as Chronic Kidney Disease.

I have been published in the New Social Worker Magazine where I wrote about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on the collective world and how Social Workers are essential to bringing healing.

I also educate medical professionals about providing affirming, trauma-informed care to people living with chronic health conditions.

Training

I have received ongoing training from experts in the field of grief—both professional experts who have studied it and people who have lived it themselves.