The Countertransference & Chronic Illness Intensive
A 1-Day Clinical Immersion for Chronically Ill Therapists
You've learned how to work with chronically ill clients. But what about when you're the chronically ill therapist?
What happens when your client's story mirrors your own health journey? When their symptoms trigger memories of your own medical trauma? When you're sitting across from someone in the exact situation you were in three years ago—and you're terrified you're not helping them enough?
No one prepared you for this in grad school.
The CEU courses don't cover what to do when countertransference involves your own chronic pain flare, your own medical trauma, your own doubt about whether you're clinically competent enough to hold this level of medical complexity.
This intensive creates space for exactly that.
What We'll Cover:
When Your Client's Story Is Your Story
Navigating sessions when their diagnosis, symptoms, or medical experiences mirror your own. How to stay clinically grounded when their case hits too close to home—and when you start questioning if you're too close to be effective.
The Fear You're Not Helping Enough
Working with high medical complexity when you know how hard it is, how much the system fails people, how little mental health training prepared you for this. Managing the anxiety that you're missing something, not doing enough, can't possibly hold all of this.
Your Body in the Room
Working effectively when you're flaring, fatigued, or symptomatic. The ethics and reality of disclosing your own illness. Maintaining boundaries while honoring lived experience as clinical wisdom—without letting imposter syndrome tell you you're "too sick" to be effective.
Grief, Fear & Identification
What happens when your client's decline activates your own fears about disease progression? When their losses remind you of what you've lost? When you're holding their grief while navigating your own?
Staying Regulated When Nothing Feels Neutral
Somatic strategies for managing your own nervous system responses when chronic illness cases activate you. Building sustainable practices for deeply personal work that doesn't burn you out.
The Things We Don't Say Out Loud
Creating space to name the countertransference that feels too vulnerable to admit: fear you're not qualified enough, comparison of your symptoms to theirs, worry you're projecting your experience, doubt about clinical competence when medical complexity is high.
Hear From Past Consultation Group Members
Dr. Tera L.
“I love what Destiny has done with Chronic Illness Therapist education & support. She is skilled, professional, and very relatable. It is evident that she has a true passion for this work and really "gets it". I appreciate her clinical wisdom and dedication to developing a space for chronic illness-informed practitioners to grow. I have learned so much and simultaneously felt so supported!”
Lisa T.
“I initially found Chronic Illness Therapists through the podcast, which I have found to be so helpful personally as well as for sharing with clients and friends. Later I connected with Destiny for consultation as a fellow chronic illness therapist, and I have found her clinical and business consultation groups to be invaluable sources of insight and community.”
Anon
“I found them on FB. And the connection and information I’ve found here has been life-changing. Grad school caused me to lose my spark because I believed I couldn’t be a therapist due to my own disabilities. I now know that that is far from the case. I am incredibly grateful to have found this resource and the support it provides me as a therapist with disability and chronic illness.”
Megan S.
“I originally found Destiny a few years ago through her podcast and was immediately impressed by her wealth of knowledge about working with folks with chronic illness. When I shifted into my private practice full time, I started to join her consultation groups and these have been a phenomenal resource. All of her spaces are inclusive and welcoming. The depth of knowledge, connection and community she has created for both practitioners and people living with chronic illness is remarkable.”
Tiffany P.
“As a registered dietitian specialized in eating disorders, chronic illness, and complex medical conditions, I wouldn’t hesitate to refer a client to Destiny for therapy, or refer a clinician colleague to the trainings and workshops she offers. Destiny is a therapist, but also understands much more than the average therapist in this space. She gets the in-depth science, medical nuances, and knows what it feels like first hand to have lived experience of navigating life with a chronic illness. Though therapists without lived experience can make a difference too, especially when it comes to the space of chronic illness, it can be so transformative to have a clinician that’s been through it too and gets it, at both a professional and personal level.”
This virtual group intensive will gift you with:
Relief from carrying these questions alone without other chronically ill therapists to process with
Clinical clarity about how to work with clients whose stories mirror your own without losing objectivity or burning out
Permission to name the countertransference you've been carrying alone—the fear, doubt, grief, and identification that comes with being a chronically ill clinician
Community with other chronically ill therapists who understand the unique intersection of lived experience and clinical practice
Practical strategies for navigating disclosure, managing your symptoms in session, and staying regulated when cases activate you
Confidence that your lived experience is clinical wisdom, not a liability—and tools to use it ethically
