The Chronic Illness Therapist

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Kelly Clark , a physical therapist and owner of Patient PT in Bloomington, Indiana, to challenge the popular narrative that chronic pain is a "false alarm." Kelly shares her personal journey with chronic pain and explains why pain is actually valuable biological data that deserves our attention, not dismissal. We explore the crucial difference between...

In this episode, Destiny sits down with Kamilah Jones, PharmD, LPC, CRC , to explore the crucial difference between stress and burnout, particularly for healthcare professionals. Kamilah shares her personal journey from pharmacist to therapist, including her own experience with burnout while building her private practice - and why knowing what to do wasn't enough to prevent it. They talk about...

In this episode, sports and orthopedic physical therapist Rick Olderman explains why chronic pain is a systems problem, not a component problem, and how our medical system's focus on individual tissues misses the bigger picture. Through fascinating patient stories - like how a 20-year-old ankle injury can cause back pain 30 years later when left unchecked - Rick demonstrates how compensation p...

In this episode, I sit down with Shana Evans Basset , a Licensed Professional Counselor from Atlanta, to explore the complex intersection of chronic illness, emotional regulation, and healing. We get into why living with chronic pain is like being trapped in an abusive relationship you can't leave, the profound grief that comes with losing the life you thought you'd have, and how our &quot...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Antonia Repollet to demystify clinical hypnosis and explore how it's revolutionizing treatment for gut-brain disorders like IBS and IBD. We dive into what clinical hypnosis actually is (spoiler: nothing like stage hypnosis), why it's so effective for digestive issues with 70-80% success rates, and what you can realistically expect from treatment. Dr. Re...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Rita Gupta , a board-certified family medicine physician and integrative medicine practitioner, to discuss why you don't have to choose between traditional medicine and holistic approaches when managing chronic pain. We explore the three types of pain (nociceptive, neuropathic, and neuroplastic), explore how fear and anxiety create real physical symptoms in...

In this episode, registered dietitian Louisa O'Grady shares practical, evidence-based nutrition strategies for managing EDS, POTS, and MCAS without falling into restrictive diet patterns. Louisa, who lives with these conditions herself, debunks common myths about low histamine diets (they're meant to be temporary, not lifelong), introduces important tips like using belly bands for POTS sym...

In this follow-up episode with registered dietitian Samina Qureshi , we explore her new clinical textbook that tackles something I see all the time in my practice - when chronic GI conditions create eating patterns that look disordered but have nothing to do with weight or body image. Samina and her team of 10 health professionals wrote this resource because they were seeing patients come in terri...

In this episode, I sit down with ADHD nutrition research expert Annika Angelo to bust some of the biggest myths floating around ADHD and diet. We talk about why that viral "78% improvement" elimination diet study is actually BS, why you shouldn't be afraid of fruit, and the truth about Red 40 and food additives (spoiler: the US actually has stricter regulations than the EU). We talk...

At my sickest, I couldn't leave the house most days. Over 10 years later, I can have full days out without even thinking about it. This is a small part of my real, unfiltered story of living with chronic illness—the struggles with getting diagnosed, what finally started to help, and the hard truths about healing that no one talks about. In this video, I share: Why I stopped chasing diagnoses a...

Today I sit down with Emma Tynan , an Irish psychotherapist who specializes in medical trauma and chronic illness, bringing both professional expertise from over a decade as a nurse and personal understanding from her own chronic health journey. We explore the often-overlooked micro-traumas of chronic illness—how the real devastation often hits not during the big diagnosis moment, but in quiet dai...

In this episode, therapist Pamela Madsen, MS, LPC , explores the often-overlooked connection between narcissistic abuse and chronic pain conditions. Pamela breaks down the four types of narcissistic parents (grandiose, covert, malignant, and communal) and explains how growing up with narcissistic caregivers creates hypervigilance that extends beyond scanning the environment to scanning the body in...

This episode features Jared Walker , founder of DollarFor, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating medical debt by making hospital charity care known, easy, and fair. Walker shares how he discovered that most nonprofit hospitals are legally required to provide financial assistance (charity care) to patients who meet certain income qualifications, yet hospitals rarely inform patients about these progr...

Jackie Williams-Reade , a marriage and family therapist with a PhD in medical family therapy, discusses family systems theory and particularly the concept of differentiation, which involves balancing authenticity with the conforming that’s often required in relationships. Jackie explores how childhood family dynamics, especially scapegoating, can affect adult behavior patterns and relationships wi...

In this vulnerable and insightful episode, licensed professional counselor Danielle McDowell shares her journey of navigating professional ambitions while managing fibromyalgia. After experiencing sudden onset of symptoms following the birth of her son, Danielle recounts how she adapted her therapeutic practice and home life by setting boundaries, extending timelines, and finding community with ot...

Destiny Davis speaks with Kara Cruz , a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in women's mental health, particularly perinatal mental health and perimenopause. They discuss the importance of women trusting themselves when advocating for their health needs, as many experience being dismissed or unheard by healthcare providers. Kara shares strategies for self-advocacy, including pr...

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jenny Tufenkina , a naturopathic physician who shares her framework of five root causes behind chronic fatigue and complex illnesses. Drawing from both her clinical experience and personal journey recovering from fatigue twice in her life, Dr. Jenny walks us through how the hormone triangle, chronic infections, toxic overload, mitochondrial dysfunction, and limbic...

In this episode, I chat with David McGettigan , an amazing pain and movement specialist who's been helping people for 15 years recover from chronic pain and other symptoms, like chemical sensitivity and insomnia. David works with folks who've been bounced around the healthcare system without finding real answers. I love how he frames pain as an adaptation instead of a "dysfunction&quo...

In this episode, we speak with Rachel Smith , a certified personal trainer with a Master's in Exercise Science who specializes in working with clients with fibromyalgia and chronic pain. Rachel shares her personal journey with fibromyalgia, diagnosed in 2010, and how she discovered that strength training was particularly effective for managing her symptoms. She discusses the importance of indi...

In this episode, we speak with ⁠Rachel Smith⁠ , a certified personal trainer with a Master's in Exercise Science who specializes in working with clients with fibromyalgia and chronic pain. Rachel shares her personal journey with fibromyalgia, diagnosed in 2010, and how she discovered that strength training was particularly effective for managing her symptoms. She discusses the importance of in...

Samina Qureshi is a registered dietitian specializing in IBS management from a weight-inclusive perspective. She challenges the common approach of endless food elimination, revealing that the standard low FODMAP diet should only last 2-4 weeks, not months or years as many attempt. Samina explains why food sensitivity tests are largely unreliable and how restriction often worsens gut symptoms by di...

⁠Samina Qureshi⁠ is a registered dietitian specializing in IBS management from a weight-inclusive perspective. She challenges the common approach of endless food elimination, revealing that the standard low FODMAP diet should only last 2-4 weeks, not months or years as many attempt. Samina explains why food sensitivity tests are largely unreliable and how restriction often worsens gut symptoms by...

Connect with Destiny:   ⁠Instagram⁠ / ⁠Facebook⁠ / ⁠Website⁠ ______________________________ 🤝 RESOURCES & WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER ______________________________ 🩺 FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS 💬 Clinical Consultation → ⁠ ⁠The Mastermind⁠⁠ : A free monthly business and clinical consultation group for therapists, PTs, OTs, and RDs specializing in chronic illness. Come think through cases, talk shop,...

In this episode, therapist Miranda Campbell, LCSW , co-author of "The Attachment Makeover," joins host Destiny Davis LPC CRC to explore how attachment styles impact chronic illness management. Miranda explains that attachment styles aren't fixed and we can develop "earned secure attachment" through intentional work. She breaks down how anxious attachment (fear of disconnect...

In this episode, therapist ⁠Miranda Campbell, LCSW⁠ , co-author of "The Attachment Makeover," joins host Destiny Davis LPC CRC to explore how attachment styles impact chronic illness management. Miranda explains that attachment styles aren't fixed and we can develop "earned secure attachment" through intentional work. She breaks down how anxious attachment (fear of disconne...