Scott Simpson - Counselor for people living w Long COVID, MEcfs, vax injury, Lyme+...
"Scott is a wonderful listener who is uniquely positioned to understand the heartbreak and trauma that come with a chronic illness not recognized by the medical system."
Carol
"Scott helped me identify strengths from other areas of my life and apply them to managing my illness."
M.K.
Features of Scott's Counseling for Medically Marginalized
Lived experience with chronic illnesses
I have been living with a chronic illnesses for 25+ years, so I understand the unique physical, social, medical and mental health challenges you experience.
Disease informed
So you don't have to use time and energy explaining your illness and symptoms and co-morbidities and how they impact you physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.
Continuous trauma informed
With some social encounters, and almost every medical appointment, you are potentially going to experience more denial, dismissal and gaslighting. This is not 'post' traumatic stress, it is more accurately described as experiencing ongoing and continuous traumatic stress in the forms of health trauma, betrayal trauma and medical trauma. We can process and prepare for these experiences.
Multiple loss informed
Chronic illness - especially medically marginalized illnesses - is not only the loss of your health and physical ability - you may have also lost your career, relationships and your hopes and dreams. We can validate and mourn those losses and move forward.
Emotion focused
Chronic illness impacts more than only your body - it also impacts myriad emotions - we can process and develop strategies so emotions don't overwhelm you.
Relationship focused
Chronic illness permeates almost every aspect of your life - impacting your relationships with your partner, family, friends and doctors and the medical system. We can unpack these experiences so you can build a strong support system.
Meaning focused
There is a psychological phenomenon known as 'post traumatic growth' - where the meaning of trauma changes, creating an opportunity for growth. You may also experience this, where "chronic illness didn't happen to me - it happened for me".
Meet in my zoom room
I will send you my zoom room link so we can video chat. Do what your body needs for our sessions -- that may mean being horizontal in your bed and that's no problem.
Canceling appointments - no problem
My body is not very dependable. Your body is probably also unstable. There may be days when our bodies are too sick to meet and those are not very predictable.
So if your body crashes 10 minutes before our meeting and you have to cancel, it is no problem -- I do not charge for canceled appointments -- because inevitably there will be a day when I have to cancel on short notice because my body suddenly became dysfunctional.
Length of sessions - I'm flexible
Some people are too sick to meet for 60 minutes. I am flexible and adaptable to your energy window -- so we can schedule 30 or 45 minute sessions if that works better, and at a frequency that works best for you.
Others may have days when their body can handle 60 minutes, and other days it cannot --- and if we have to cut short the session, no problem, I only bill for our actual time.
Feedback - Yes, please!
Being a better counselor is an ongoing journey. While there is no such thing as 'perfect' counseling, we can always learn more and do better.
I love training other counselors, social workers and health care professionals -- it is gratifying to see their confidence and competence in skills strengthen, which then extends to the quality of care and support they provide.
A key value in my training approach is to provide fulsome feedback to improve the trainee's counseling skills and processes.
So it's not surprising feedback is a value in my own counseling practice. So I will seek and encourage any feedback that would make our sessions more helpful and productive: What's working in our sessions? What could be working better?