Therapy for Chronic Illness in Richmond, VA
When Your Body Changed Everything
There's the life you had before the diagnosis, and the life you have now. Some days, the distance between those two versions of yourself feels unbearable. You're mourning someone you thought you'd become, plans you made, a future you imagined, a body you used to trust.
People keep telling you to stay positive, to focus on what you can still do, to be grateful it's not worse. They mean well, but it doesn't help. It actually makes it harder to admit how much you're struggling, how angry you are, how grief-stricken you feel about a loss that's invisible to everyone else.
Your energy is unpredictable. What you could do yesterday might be impossible today. You've had to cancel plans, adjust expectations, and learn to live with a body that doesn't cooperate. Meanwhile, the world keeps moving at a pace you can no longer match, and you're supposed to just figure it out.
Chronic illness doesn't just affect your body, it reshapes your identity, your relationships, and your sense of what's possible. A diagnosis like Multiple Sclerosis, fibromyalgia, or any ongoing health condition brings losses that often go unrecognized. The grief is real, even if no one died.
Many people with chronic illness experience depression, anxiety, or trauma responses alongside their physical symptoms. This isn't weakness, it's a normal response to living with uncertainty, pain, and the constant work of managing a condition that never fully goes away.
Chronic illness therapy creates space to process what you're experiencing without pressure to "overcome" or "inspire." It's not about fixing your attitude or learning to be more positive. It's about honoring the full reality of what you're navigating, the grief, the anger, the exhaustion, the adaptation, and finding ways to build a life that works with your body rather than against it.
Understanding Chronic Illness and Emotional Support
Working with a Therapist Who Lives It Too
License: LPC,
0701013055, Verify License
I'm Kamillah Gray, and I understand chronic illness from the inside. I live with it. I know what it's like to have your body change the terms of your life without your consent. To grieve capabilities you used to take for granted. To navigate a healthcare system that often dismisses or minimizes what you're experiencing.
I also know the particular exhaustion of being chronically ill while holding other marginalized identities. When you're Black, queer, neurodivergent, or any combination of identities that the world already makes harder, chronic illness adds another layer of navigation. Another thing to manage. Another way the world wasn't built for you.
In our work together, you won't have to explain the basics of what it's like to be sick. I already get it. We'll focus on what matters most to you, whether that's processing grief, adjusting to new limitations, managing the emotional toll of symptoms, or rebuilding a sense of identity that includes your illness without being defined by it. I'll meet you exactly where you are, without toxic positivity or pressure to be inspiring.
What Chronic Illness Therapy Sessions Feel Like
Sessions are paced for bodies that don't have unlimited energy. If you need to cancel because of a flare, I understand, no guilt, no judgment. If you need to attend from bed, that's completely fine. The structure adapts to your capacity, not the other way around.
We'll talk about whatever feels most pressing. Some days that might be grief, mourning the life you expected to have. Other days it might be practical: how to set boundaries around your energy, how to communicate your needs to people who don't understand, how to stop pushing past your limits until you crash.
I bring honesty alongside warmth. I won't pretend things are fine when they're not, and I won't offer toxic positivity that dismisses your reality. But I'll also reflect back your strength when you can't see it, and hold hope when you're running low.
The tone is collaborative. You know your body and your experience better than anyone. My role is to support you in navigating it, not to tell you how you should feel or what you should be doing differently.
What Chronic Illness Therapy May Offer You
I can't promise that therapy will change your diagnosis or make the hard days easier. What I can say is that many clients find that having space to process their experience creates real shifts in how they relate to their illness and themselves:
Less Isolation
You may feel less alone in what you're carrying when someone truly understands.
More Self-Compassion
You might begin treating yourself with the kindness your situation deserves.
Clearer Identity
You may start integrating illness into who you are without losing yourself entirely.
What Life Might Feel Like with Support
Imagine having space to grieve without being rushed toward acceptance. To feel angry about what you've lost without someone telling you to look on the bright side. To talk about the hard parts without worrying you're bringing someone down.
With support, the grief doesn't disappear, but it may start to move rather than stagnate. You might find yourself adapting in ways that feel less like defeat and more like wisdom. Learning your body's signals. Adjusting your expectations without abandoning your sense of self.
You may discover that rest becomes easier when you stop treating it as something to earn. That boundaries feel less like failure and more like self-preservation. That your identity can expand to hold your illness without being swallowed by it.
This isn't about becoming someone who's "at peace" with being sick, that's a bar set by people who don't understand. It's about finding moments of ease within the difficulty. Building a life that works for the body you have now, not the one you used to have or wish you had.
Beginning Chronic Illness Therapy in Virginia
If you're ready for support from someone who genuinely understands, here's what the process looks like:
Reach Out
a message through the contact form. Share whatever feels comfortable about what you're navigating. There's no expectation to have it all figured out.
Free Consultation
We'll schedule a brief call to see if we're a good fit. This is your chance to ask questions and get a sense of whether this space feels right.
Begin Sessions
If we decide to work together, we'll schedule your first session. We'll start wherever feels most important to you and build from there.
Insights That Emerge in Chronic Illness Therapy
As clients navigate their experience with support, certain realizations tend to surface:
- "My grief is valid, even though no one died."
- "I'm not lazy, I'm managing a real condition with limited energy."
- "I can mourn who I was and still build a meaningful life now."
- "Rest isn't giving up. It's how I keep going."
- "I don't have to perform wellness to deserve support."
- "My worth isn't tied to my productivity."
Frequently Asked Questions About Chronic Illness Therapy
Do I need a specific diagnosis to work with you?
No. Whether you have a clear diagnosis, are still seeking answers, or are dealing with symptoms that haven't been named yet, you're welcome here. The experience of chronic illness matters more than the label.
I have MS. Do you have experience with that specifically?
Yes. I have personal experience with Multiple Sclerosis and understand the particular challenges it brings, the unpredictability, the invisible symptoms, the grief of diagnosis. You won't have to explain the basics.
What if I'm having a flare and need to cancel?
I understand that chronic illness means unpredictability. Cancellations due to health are handled with compassion, not penalties. We'll work together to find a scheduling approach that respects your body's reality.
Is this therapy going to tell me to think more positively?
No. I don't believe in toxic positivity or the idea that your attitude determines your health outcomes. Therapy with me is about honoring your full experience, including the hard, angry, grieving parts, not papering over it with positivity.
Are sessions virtual?
Yes, all sessions are virtual. This means you can attend from wherever you're most comfortable, which is especially important when energy and mobility are limited.
Ready for Support That Understands?
If you're exhausted from explaining your illness to people who don't get it, and ready for a therapist who understands from the inside, I'd love to hear from you. Reaching out is just a conversation, no pressure, no expectations.
You've been managing so much on your own. You don't have to keep doing this alone.
