Living in Limbo: Supporting Clients Through the Biopsychosocial Impact of Diagnostic Uncertainty
Living in Limbo: Supporting Clients Through the Biopsychosocial Impact of Diagnostic Uncertainty
A 90-Minute CE Workshop for Mental Health Professionals
Date: Wednesday, April 22nd
Time: 12:00–1:30pm EST
Location: Live via Zoom + Replay Available
Price: $45 | 1.5 CE Credits
NBCC & CRCC Approved
Your client doesn't have a diagnosis.
But they're suffering.
They've been to multiple doctors. They've had tests come back "normal." They've been told it's stress, or anxiety, or that they just need to lose weight. And now they're sitting across from you, and they’re exhausted, dismissed, and starting to wonder if they're imagining the whole thing.
You want to help, but graduate school didn't prepare you for this beyond “factitious disorder.”
Diagnostic uncertainty is one of the most clinically complex — and most undertreated — presentations in mental health practice. And it's far more common than most therapists realize.
Here's what makes these cases so hard.
Clients without a diagnosis don't show up saying "I'm struggling with medical dismissal." They show up as health anxiety. As somatic complaints. As "difficult" or "resistant" clients who can't seem to make progress.
Without the right understanding, well-meaning clinicians can inadvertently reinforce fear-avoidance patterns that deepen disability, increase distress, and keep clients stuck in a cycle of suffering and hypervigilance.
This workshop is about closing that gap.
What you'll leave with (Learning Objectives):
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've ever felt stuck with a medically complex client and weren't 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's the host of The Chronic Illness Therapist Podcast and the founder of Changing Tides Counseling — and she's also a patient with lived experience navigating the healthcare system firsthand.
Destiny doesn't teach from theory alone. She brings a clinical lens that's been 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 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.
Details
📅 Tuesday, April 22nd | 12:00–1:30pm EST
💻 Live via Zoom — can't make it live?
A full replay will be available with CE credit eligibility
🎓 1.5 CE Credits | NBCC Approved (ACEP #7980) | CRCC Approved
💵 $45
Replay access and credit availability included with registration.