Counseling for IBD
Living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects far more than the digestive system. It impacts how safe you feel in your body, how predictable daily life seems, and how you relate to yourself and others. The ongoing uncertainty of symptoms, flare-ups, fatigue, pain, and medical treatments can quietly shape emotional well-being over time.
Many people with IBD live with a constant background of vigilance — scanning for symptoms, planning around bathrooms, managing energy, or bracing for the possibility of another flare. Even during periods of remission, the emotional residue of past experiences can linger. Anxiety, low mood, grief, shame, frustration, and a sense of isolation are common and understandable responses to living with a chronic, unpredictable condition.
BD is not “just” a medical diagnosis. It is a full-life experience that can affect identity, relationships, work, body image, and confidence in one’s own body. Too often, the emotional impact of IBD goes unseen or unaddressed, leaving people feeling as though they must manage it alone.
Counseling offers a space where the psychological and emotional aspects of IBD are taken seriously. Therapy can help you develop tools to manage stress, anxiety, and uncertainty; process grief or anger related to changes in your health or life plans; rebuild trust in your body after flare-ups or medical trauma; improve communication with loved ones and healthcare providers; and cultivate greater self-compassion. Therapy does not aim to “fix” IBD — it supports you in living a more grounded, meaningful life alongside it.
My approach to working with IBD is informed by both professional training as a therapist and personal experience as a caregiver to family members with IBD. I have seen firsthand the day-to-day realities — the medical appointments, the exhaustion, the emotional toll, and the resilience required to keep moving forward. This dual perspective allows me to meet clients with deep respect for how complex, personal, and layered the IBD experience can be.
Whether you are newly diagnosed, navigating long-term illness, or supporting a loved one with IBD, counseling can provide a place to slow down, reflect, and feel understood. You deserve support that honors both the physical and emotional realities of this journey. You are more than your diagnosis, and you don’t have to carry this alone.