Hands
to Heart Therapy
Living with Congenital Heart Disease
is unique to everyone
just like your own
heart
beat
This lifelong diagnosis sometimes comes with emotional and mental health challenges alongside the physical ones.
Sometimes you can feel alone.
I know this from my own heart story.
I offer counselling for congenital heart disease and chronic illness, combining professional training with lived experience to provide support that truly understands what you’re going through. As both a counsellor and someone who lives with a heart condition, I bring a rare perspective to therapy for heart patients, medical trauma, and long-term health journeys. This is a space where clinical expertise meets real-life understanding.
Because sometimes the most meaningful support comes from someone who doesn’t just understand it, but lives it too.
Growing up with a significant congenital heart condition can create a complex emotional and regulation challenges, especially for a child trying to understand their medical experiences,
their parents emotions and the sometimes scary experiences of being alone during procedures.
As a young person experiencing the pain of chronic illness, coupled with the reality of medical procedures and the uncertainty of diagnosis, they may have struggled with intense feelings of anger, frustration, and confusion. These emotions are common when a child is confronted with the fragility of their health. Even their family can't truly grasp what it’s like
to live
with such a condition.
In the process of my own healing, I built my own resilience and insight into the power of processing grief. My grief not just for the loss of "normal" childhood experiences, but for the ongoing losses that came with my chronic illness, including the limitations on my body, my scars, and my continued uncertainty that comes with chd.
Through my own therapy I have learned that being heard heals what Liza Morton calls the "deepest scars" of having CHD, which is the stories we carry.
These early and sometimes ongoing experiences of pain, grief, and dysregulation around not having a body that can "do" what they want can impacted me and many others with similar conditions.
My roots in doing work as a counsellor on medical trauma, resilience, and supporting children and families navigating similar struggles was inspired by my own lived experience.
I understand how isolating and confusing it can be to reconcile your identity with a medical diagnosis or to face a seemingly endless series of difficult medical experiences.
Heart Stories
Connect with me if you would like to learn more or share your story.
1% Heart Podcast
I had the opportunity for a heart to heart conversation on The 1% Heart podcast hosted by Drezden Plotkin
He, like me, was born with multiple heart defects, and now he explores the complexities of cardiac care and the significant gaps in the healthcare system that many patients still face today. We talked about mental health and the unique impacts of medical trauma.
“I was born with a life-threatening heart condition, but it was medical trauma that left the deepest scars”
-Dr. Liza Morton