Diagnostic Uncertainty & Chronic Illness: A CEU Workshop for Therapists
Living in Limbo: Supporting Clients Through the Biopsychosocial Impact of Diagnostic Uncertainty
Format: A 90-Minute On-Demand Video Training
Price: $45 | Earn: 1.5 CE Credits (NBCC & CRCC Approved)
Your client does not have a diagnosis. But they are suffering.
They have been to multiple doctors. They have had tests come back "normal." They have been told it is stress, anxiety, or that they just need to lose weight. Now they are sitting across from you. They are exhausted, dismissed, and starting to wonder if they are imagining the whole thing.
You want to help. The problem is that graduate school did not prepare us for this beyond a brief mention of factitious disorder.
Diagnostic uncertainty is one of the most clinically complex and undertreated presentations in mental health practice. It is also far more common than most therapists realize.
Here is what makes these cases so hard.
Clients navigating diagnostic limbo do not show up saying they are struggling with medical dismissal. They show up with health anxiety. They show up with severe somatic complaints. They often present as "difficult" or "resistant" clients who cannot seem to make progress.
Without a specialized understanding of medical trauma, well-meaning clinicians can accidentally reinforce fear-avoidance patterns. This deepens the client's disability, increases their distress, and keeps them stuck in a cycle of suffering and nervous system hypervigilance.
This workshop is about closing that gap.
-
Participants will identify the biological, psychological, and social impacts when clients experience chronic symptoms without medical diagnosis or validation, including effects on mental health, relationships, identity, and healthcare trust.
Participants will differentiate common psychological presentations in diagnostically ambiguous cases (including health anxiety, hypervigilance, medical trauma, and grief) and identify client pain-fear-avoidance patterns that can inadvertently worsen client outcomes.
Participants will demonstrate skills for supporting clients through diagnostic uncertainty while avoiding fear-avoidance traps, including validating experiences, reducing distress, collaborating with medical providers, and fostering resilience amid unanswered health questions.
This training is for you if:
You work with clients who have chronic symptoms, pain, or fatigue (diagnosed or not).
You have ever felt stuck with a medically complex client and were not sure why.
You want to practice trauma-informed care that accounts for medical and systemic trauma, not just interpersonal trauma.
You hold a license requiring NBCC or CRCC continuing education credits.
About the Presenter
Destiny Davis, LPC, CRC is a licensed professional counselor and certified rehabilitation counselor specializing in chronic illness, medical trauma, and health anxiety. She is the host of The Chronic Illness Therapist Podcast, the founder of Changing Tides Counseling, and a patient with lived experience navigating the healthcare system firsthand.
Destiny does not teach from theory alone. She brings a clinical lens sharpened by years of working at the intersection of pain, identity, and a medical system that frequently fails its most vulnerable patients. Her approach is somatic, evidence-based, trauma-informed, and refreshingly direct.
The Chronic Illness Therapist has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7980. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Chronic Illness Therapist is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Course Details & Access
💻 Format: 90-Minute On-Demand Video Workshop (Watch instantly)
🎓 CE Credits: 1.5 NBCC Approved (ACEP #7980) | CRCC Approved
💵 Investment: $45 (Includes lifetime access to the video replay and presentation slides)