Melanie BowyerTherapy

Counselling

Chronic Illness, ME/CFS and Long COVID

ME/CFS, Long COVID and other chronic illnesses are physical health conditions. Living with illness may change your work, relationships, independence and sense of who you are. Being doubted or expected to keep explaining yourself can add another burden.

Loss, energy and changing expectations

We can talk about grief for the life you expected, uncertainty, anger, isolation or guilt about needing support. Our work might include communicating boundaries, changes in identity and making decisions when your energy or capacity is limited. You don’t have to make your experience sound positive.

Counselling does not cure the underlying illness or imply that physical symptoms are psychological. We can discuss access needs and how appointments might fit your energy and concentration, alongside your existing medical care.

When illness changes everyday life

You might be grieving activities you miss, managing guilt about cancelling plans or finding it hard to explain fluctuating energy to family or colleagues. We can explore these experiences without treating physical symptoms as a failure of motivation or positive thinking.

Working with the energy you have

We can discuss pauses, the pace of conversation and whether online or telephone sessions would make attending more manageable. You do not have to minimise how unwell you feel or turn counselling into another task to perform well.

Read about making room for good moments alongside loss.

Read about my approach

Related support

Bereavement and Loss · Relationships and Couples Counselling

Explore other areas of counselling · What to expect when starting therapy

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