Coming Home to the Body
Chronic Illness, Stress and Self‑Trust Therapy
Listen to what has changed. Rebuild trust with your body. Remember who you are beyond illness.
Living with chronic illness, persistent pain or ongoing fatigue can change far more than your physical health. It may affect your relationships, work, independence, identity and sense of what the future will hold.
You may feel as though your body has become unpredictable or unfamiliar. Perhaps you push yourself until you crash, struggle to rest without guilt or find yourself constantly monitoring symptoms. You may be grieving the life you expected while trying to function in a world that does not always recognise what it costs you to participate.
Therapy cannot remove a physical condition. It can offer somewhere to process its emotional, relational and existential impact—and begin building a more compassionate and trustworthy relationship with yourself and your body.
Book a free 15‑minute introductory call
A brief, no‑pressure conversation to explore what brings you to therapy and whether working together feels right.
You might be in the right place if…
Chronic illness, pain or fatigue has begun to dominate your sense of who you are.
Your symptoms are unpredictable and you struggle to plan with confidence.
You feel guilty when you cancel, rest or ask other people for help.
You repeatedly push beyond your limits and then experience a physical or emotional crash.
You worry that other people think you are exaggerating because your condition is not always visible.
You have felt dismissed, disbelieved or misunderstood by healthcare professionals.
You constantly scan your body for signs that something is wrong.
You no longer know when to listen to your body and when fear is taking over.
Your self‑worth has become tied to productivity, independence or how much you can do for others.
You are grieving your former body, identity, career, relationships or imagined future.
Your illness has changed intimacy, friendships or your place within your family.
You feel ashamed of needing support or accommodations, or angry or frightened that your body has betrayed you.
You find yourself wondering, “Who am I now?”
When the body becomes unfamiliar
Chronic illness can interrupt the ordinary sense of continuity between who you were, who you are and who you expected to become.
A body that once felt dependable may now seem to set the terms of your life. Pain, fatigue, appointments, medication and uncertainty can begin to shape every decision—even pleasurable activities may require calculation: Will I have enough energy? What will this cost me tomorrow? Is there somewhere to rest?
You may experience your body as an obstacle to overcome or a problem to control. At other times, you may feel disconnected from it entirely.
Coming home to the body does not mean pretending that pain is meaningful, feeling grateful for illness or learning to love every physical experience. It does not require you to deny anger, injustice or loss. It means gradually developing a relationship with your body that is based on attention rather than punishment—and recognising that the body living through these experiences is still part of you.
The grief of chronic illness
Chronic illness often carries forms of grief that other people cannot see.
You may grieve the person you were before becoming unwell, as well as lost spontaneity, work, movement, intimacy, financial security or a future you once imagined. There may be no clear moment of ending and no socially recognised ritual through which this grief can be held.
This grief may return as your condition changes or when you encounter another limitation. It can include anger, envy, relief, sadness, shame and fear. You might miss your former life while also recognising how much you were pushing yourself within it.
Therapy can provide somewhere to mourn what has changed without requiring you to be positive or find a hidden gift in your suffering. Acknowledging loss is not the same as giving up. It can be part of making space for the life that is still here.
Stress, trauma and the body
Emotional stress and physical symptoms can affect one another, but this does not mean that illness is imagined or “all in the mind”.
Living with pain, fatigue and medical uncertainty is itself stressful. Repeated examinations, surgery, invasive treatment, frightening symptoms or experiences of not being believed can leave the nervous system highly alert. You may become watchful of every physical sensation or feel anxious before appointments because you expect to be dismissed.
Earlier trauma can also influence how you respond to vulnerability, dependence, uncertainty and loss of control. If you learnt to ignore your needs, remain strong or care for other people, you may continue overriding your body long after it begins asking you to stop.
Therapy allows us to explore this mind–body relationship without reducing physical illness to psychology. The aim is not to explain away your symptoms. It is to understand your whole experience more fully.
Just because your version of normal isn’t the same as someone else’s version doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you.
— John Boyne
How therapy can support you
Therapy may help you to:
Process the grief, anger and uncertainty associated with chronic illness.
Explore who you are beyond symptoms, diagnoses and limitations.
Develop a less adversarial relationship with your body and rebuild trust in your perceptions and bodily signals.
Recognise your needs before reaching exhaustion or crisis.
Understand cycles of overexertion, collapse and self‑criticism.
Work with guilt or shame about resting and receiving care.
Process medical invalidation or frightening healthcare experiences.
Communicate your limits more clearly in relationships and at work.
Explore changes in independence, intimacy, sexuality and family roles.
Separate your worth from productivity and physical capacity.
Grieve former identities and imagined futures, and find meaning without romanticising illness or suffering.
Build a life that respects your limitations while making room for pleasure, relationship and possibility.
The aim is not to push your body towards somebody else’s idea of recovery. It is to help you relate to yourself with greater honesty, compassion and choice.
How I work
I offer integrative, transpersonal, trauma‑informed and body‑aware psychotherapy.
Our work may include reflective conversation, attention to bodily sensations, relationship patterns, imagery, dreams, metaphor and questions of identity or meaning. These approaches are always invitational and adapted to your needs, capacity and pace.
We may explore what happens internally when you need to rest, ask for help, disappoint someone or acknowledge a limit. We can also consider how culture, family expectations, gender, race, disability and social attitudes have shaped your relationship with strength, need and dependence.
Therapy is not a substitute for medical assessment or treatment, and I will not attempt to diagnose or medically explain your symptoms. My role is to support you with the psychological, emotional and relational dimensions of living in an affected body.
About me
I’m Jamila Andersson, a UKCP‑registered integrative transpersonal psychotherapist and the founder of Remember Who We Are Therapy.
My understanding of this work is informed by both clinical training and lived experience of neurological illness, chronic pain, medical intervention and fatigue. I understand that chronic illness is not an abstract therapeutic theme: it can affect how you move through each day, how you are perceived and how much energy is available for the work of therapy itself.
I work collaboratively and at a pace that respects your capacity. You do not need to appear well, productive or emotionally composed in order to be welcomed into the therapeutic space.
Alongside chronic illness and pain, I work with anxiety, low mood, grief, relationship difficulties, identity, belonging and significant life transitions.
Sessions and fees
Sessions are 50 minutes and usually take place weekly at a regular agreed time.
Online psychotherapy: £90 per session, available across the UK.
In‑person psychotherapy: £100 per session in Paddington, London W2.
Working days: Tuesday to Friday.
Online therapy may be particularly helpful when pain, fatigue, disability or fluctuating symptoms make travel difficult.
Begin with an introductory call
If you are considering weekly psychotherapy, you can book a free 15‑minute introductory call.
We can briefly discuss what is bringing you to therapy, any accessibility needs that would help you participate and whether my approach and current availability are a suitable fit.
Book a free 15‑minute introductory call
You are more than what has happened to your body. Therapy can offer a place to remember and reconnect with the person who is still here.
If chronic illness has affected your ability to protect your energy, communicate your limits or ask for support, you may also wish to read about Boundaries, Belonging and Self‑Trust Therapy.