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Chronic Illness Therapy That Gets The Whole Picture
Living with chronic illness can be complicated enough on its own. It can be even harder when your experiences have been shaped by a healthcare system that has not always listened to you or taken your symptoms seriously.
Maybe you’ve been told your symptoms are “just anxiety.” Maybe you’ve learned to downplay your pain, push through exhaustion, or that you always have to dress a certain way or speak a certain way to prove that you’re struggling enough to deserve care.
There is a long history of systemic medical gaslighting and trauma, barriers to quality care, dismissal of symptoms and pain, and the pressure to push through and stay strong without asking for help. If that resonates with you, we want you to know: we see all of it, and we hold space for it.
In therapy, we'll make space for your health experiences alongside your culture, identity, relationships, family history, and the ways you’ve learned to cope. You can talk openly about grief, anger, fear, exhaustion, or uncertainty without being told to simply “think positive” or push through.
The goal isn’t to make you accept a difficult situation or pretend that everything is okay. It’s to help you process what you’ve been through, understand what you need, and find ways to care for yourself that fit the life you have.
Working with Natalia Alas Durán, LCSW-S, LICSW
Natalia Alas Durán, LCSW-S, LICSW is a Salvadoran-American therapist with over a decade of experience providing mental health services to BIPOC and immigrant communities in medical settings. She has worked in hospitals including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts as well as integrated health settings serving young adults, including the University of Texas at Austin. Chronic illness and chronic pain are at the heart of her clinical specialty, and she brings both professional training and genuine warmth to this work.
Natalia is trained in the EMDR Chronic Pain and Illness Protocol, a specialized approach designed for the unique ways chronic conditions affect the nervous system. She draws from a range of evidence-based approaches depending on what fits you best, including:
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you clarify what matters to you and keep moving forward, even in the presence of pain or uncertainty
Somatic interventions that support you in reconnecting with your body rather than feeling at odds with it
EMDR to process medical trauma, the grief of a difficult diagnosis, chronic pain, or experiences your body is still holding onto
Trauma-informed care that honors the full history you bring to your health journey, including any experiences of being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or overlooked
Mindfulness practices to support your nervous system and help you find moments of steadiness even on the harder days
Natalia works with adults living with a wide range of chronic conditions, including:
Autoimmune disorders · Chronic pain · Cancer & survivorship · Celiac disease · Endometriosis · Health anxiety · And more
When meeting with a therapist who specializes in chronic illness, you no longer have to carry it alone.
When meeting with a therapist who specializes in chronic illness, you no longer have to carry it alone.
Chronic Illness Therapy for Young Adults
Being a young adult living with chronic illness can be isolating. You might be navigating a new diagnosis at the same time you're figuring out college, your career, relationships, or what you want your life to look like. Your peers might not get it. Your family might not either. It can feel isolating as you're trying to figure out insurance, medical appointments, and manage side effects of treatment all while trying to live life.
There's also a specific grief that can come with getting sick young, the feeling that your body is out of step with where you thought you'd be, or that you're missing out on experiences the people around you seem to take for granted.
Natalia works with young adults who are learning how to build a life while navigating chronic illness. That might look like:
Processing a new diagnosis or a recent shift in your condition
Finding ways to talk to friends, partners, or family about what you're going through
Working through the anxiety or depression that often shows up alongside chronic illness
Rebuilding a sense of identity and purpose that goes with and beyond your health
Developing tools to advocate for yourself in medical settings, especially if you've felt dismissed before
You deserve support that meets you where you actually are, no matter what age you are.
Ready to get started?
We offer a free consultation call to talk through whether therapy at Sin Miedo feels like the right fit for you. We'd be honored to be alongside you in this.
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