Can a mind-body approach to therapy help heal chronic pain and illness? Can building healthier relationships ease chronic pain? MEET Destiny Winters Destiny is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Clinician Rehabilitation Counselor in Atlanta, GA. She specializes in helping people with chronic illnesses find joy and meaning in their lives despite daily, persistent physical and emotional pain. Destiny practices through the lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Feminist Theory, and social justice to help clients learn to advocate for themselves in a system that has largely left them out. Self-care and compassion are at the heart of her work because without them, we cannot do the hard work required to make big changes in this world. Find out more at The Chronic Illness Therapist and connect with Destiny on Instagram IN THIS PODCAST: How does chronic pain affect our relationships? 1:48 Connecting with others to help with our self-care 6:28 Validating your chronic pain or illness 16:17 Self-compassion and chronic pain 28:42 How Does Chronic Pain Affect Our Relationships? Different ways that chronic pain shows itself How to educate your partner on chronic pain Why do we create such a strong identity around chronic illness? Connecting With Others To Help With Our Self-Care Understanding the effort it takes to create routines and self-care regimens Creating sustainable habits by relying on others more Balancing our needs and others' needs Moving towards community and connection Validating Your Chronic Pain Or Illness Learning to just observe our pain Changing our mindset on what pain really is Techniques to accurately assess and manage your pain Self-Compassion And Chronic Pain Understanding how society looks at chronic pain and illness Finding your self-worth and engaging with what you are good at Connect With Me Instagram @holisticcounselingpodcast Facebook Join the private Facebook group Sign up for my free email course: www.holisticcounselingpodcast.com Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Resources Mentioned And Useful Links: -Find out more about Destiny on The Chronic Illness Therapist and connect with Destiny on Instagram and her podcast