You're just in pain.
You're not defective. There is no fatal flaw. You're not "mentally ill." You're in pain. That, I suspect, is the only reason you're seeking help. You're suffering from one or another of the following sorts of pain and injury: physiological, psychological or existential, social or interpersonal. Anxiety and depression, grief and loneliness, meaninglessness and madness are all potent, purposeful species of pain.
Pain is universal. It spares no one. Indeed, pain is an evolutionary adaptation, a blessing and a curse handed down by our mammalian ancestors. Eons in the making. It's trying to protect you from environmental threat and danger, damage or death. It's purpose is to alert and assist you. To save your skin. Ultimately, to perpetuate your genes. Even if it hurts. Paradoxically, pain is your friend, a guide and guardian.
All the unpleasant, often eviscerating sensations and emotions that constitute the biopsychosocial continuum of pain, acute or chronic, emerge within your brain and body for good evolutionary, developmental, and situational reasons.
If you understood those reasons, if you knew why you hurt, you could reframe your pain. You could reclaim a modicum of influence, if not control, over its highs and lows, its tendency to over-react, to set off alarms and trigger automatic defenses at the slightest whiff of threat or danger. You'd realize there's nothing "wrong" with you, per se, simply because you're experiencing psychic, somatic or social pain.
You're not damaged, disordered, or diseased. The presence and persistence of pain means you're mysteriously and marvelously human.
Pain is universal. It spares no one. Indeed, pain is an evolutionary adaptation, a blessing and a curse handed down by our mammalian ancestors. Eons in the making. It's trying to protect you from environmental threat and danger, damage or death. It's purpose is to alert and assist you. To save your skin. Ultimately, to perpetuate your genes. Even if it hurts. Paradoxically, pain is your friend, a guide and guardian.
All the unpleasant, often eviscerating sensations and emotions that constitute the biopsychosocial continuum of pain, acute or chronic, emerge within your brain and body for good evolutionary, developmental, and situational reasons.
If you understood those reasons, if you knew why you hurt, you could reframe your pain. You could reclaim a modicum of influence, if not control, over its highs and lows, its tendency to over-react, to set off alarms and trigger automatic defenses at the slightest whiff of threat or danger. You'd realize there's nothing "wrong" with you, per se, simply because you're experiencing psychic, somatic or social pain.
You're not damaged, disordered, or diseased. The presence and persistence of pain means you're mysteriously and marvelously human.
It's likely I can help.
Making sense of, modifying, managing and mitigating pain in all of its manifestations is where I come in. I'm an experienced biopsychosocial pain self-management (BPSM) specialist.
If pain is the common denominator and the complex causes and consequences of your particular pain are, in fact, as utterly unique as you are, then proven principles and practices from the field of pain self-management ought to be (at least part of) the solution, whether you're concerned about your mental health, physical condition, or social health and well-being. It's obvious, if you know anything about the maddening multidimensionality of pain, as I do.
I've suffered diverse types of biopsychosocial pain and injury myself, including an emotionally adverse childhood, a life-threatening medical emergency, anxiety, depression, a dysfunctional marriage and devastating divorce, ostracism, estrangement, job loss and career disruption, financial stress, loneliness, existential crisis, chronic pain, and traumatic grief over the sudden, violent death of my daughter by suicide.
So I get it. I've been there. And survived. I've never even lost my sense of humor.
What's more, I've spent almost two decades as a meditation teacher, chronic pain specialist, positive psychology coach, and solution-focused therapist both in private practice and on staff at Longmont United Hospital, where I worked with hundreds of patients and healthcare professionals, conducted and published a research study, presented at conferences, and won more than $68,000 in grants from local, state, and regional philanthropic organizations to fund original work in biopsychosocial pain self-management.
Therefore, whether your pain is chronic or acute, mental, emotional, physical or largely social, it's likely I can help. Let's talk.
If pain is the common denominator and the complex causes and consequences of your particular pain are, in fact, as utterly unique as you are, then proven principles and practices from the field of pain self-management ought to be (at least part of) the solution, whether you're concerned about your mental health, physical condition, or social health and well-being. It's obvious, if you know anything about the maddening multidimensionality of pain, as I do.
I've suffered diverse types of biopsychosocial pain and injury myself, including an emotionally adverse childhood, a life-threatening medical emergency, anxiety, depression, a dysfunctional marriage and devastating divorce, ostracism, estrangement, job loss and career disruption, financial stress, loneliness, existential crisis, chronic pain, and traumatic grief over the sudden, violent death of my daughter by suicide.
So I get it. I've been there. And survived. I've never even lost my sense of humor.
What's more, I've spent almost two decades as a meditation teacher, chronic pain specialist, positive psychology coach, and solution-focused therapist both in private practice and on staff at Longmont United Hospital, where I worked with hundreds of patients and healthcare professionals, conducted and published a research study, presented at conferences, and won more than $68,000 in grants from local, state, and regional philanthropic organizations to fund original work in biopsychosocial pain self-management.
Therefore, whether your pain is chronic or acute, mental, emotional, physical or largely social, it's likely I can help. Let's talk.
