My story might be a little bit like yours. My ambitious mind wanted one thing and my body dragged me in a different direction. I was close to finishing my Master of Counselling Psychology degree and starting my therapy career when my body gave me a cold, hard "No."
My limbs feel like a thousand pounds. The fatigue makes everyday tasks feel like climbing a mountain. The mind-numbing brain fog makes it impossible to keep up with the demands of counselling and academia. I become a stranger to myself and a ghost in every aspect of own life. This is devastating, but the truth is - I have felt this way before.
Teenager me was also socially isolated, depressed, and struggling with chronic pain. I worked viciously to never feel like that again. To transcend to the level of helping others instead of hurting.
But there I was - forced to feel it all again. And to be honest, it was about to get a whole lot worse. Life moves on without me while I am stuck on the couch, terrified of life, my body, and the future.
Everyone needs a lighthouse to guide them home to what is true. Writing has been that for me since I was 13 years old. Writing connects me to my essence and to God. Writing is my wand - a sacred way to transform pain into beauty.
I take my passion for writing and publish several poems in high school. My writing skills help me succeed in academia and I even become a senior reporter for my university newspaper and a psychology website. But the creative and spiritual aspect of writing fade into the background as I write for career achievement instead of self-expression and curiosity.
In the beginning, chronic illness takes away every ounce of my creative energy. But as I learn to embrace and surrender to my situation, everything shifts. I rediscover the magic of creating for the sake of creating. I dedicate myself to bridging creativity with my healing and sharing this with others.
Eventually, I'm diagnosed with ME/CFS - a neuroimmune condition that impacts just about every system in your body. But I feel further apart from that diagnosis every day. How?
I start to re-write the deceiving story that I am a sick person.
I surrender to my healing process as an art form rather than this demoralizing fixing process.
I embrace my identity as the creative person I've always been, and not as an illness that I won't always have. I create counter narratives to the medical model's way of thinking about pain and disease. I write about the things I want to feel, do, and be, instead of obsessively tracking symptoms. As I shift my perspective to align with who I truly am, I start to heal.
Our minds are always story-telling, but are you the author? Who is the narrator? I'm here to help you answer these questions. I know they may seem scary but just know there is freedom on the other side.
I take a trauma-informed and non-pathologizing approach to illness. I focus on empowering you to access your well parts, rather than zeroing in on symptoms and pathology.
I am inspired by narrative therapy theories which suggest that labels and diagnosis can maintain the problem instead of leading us to empowerment. This can disconnect us from our innate strength and resilience. Illness can become our identity and sense of self-worth, which can hold us back on social, emotional, spiritual, and physiological levels.
I believe language is power. You can create cellular change through the re-writing process. Your brain is always listening to the words you speak and share, and aligning your experience with the language you use.
Thanks to neuroplasticity research, we know that re-storying with intention creates new neural pathways, making it both a science and art. This is what makes expressive arts, writing, and story-telling so transformational.
There are many approaches to healing chronic illness but the beauty of creative writing is that it can be easily integrated with any other healing modality that resonates with you as it facilitates deeper imagination and rewiring.
-Carolyn Coman
I have had the privilege of creating safe spaces and unique group programming for my entire career. I have mentored and supported some pretty special humans, including immigrant children and youth, youth experiencing homelessness and mental illness, and children and youth in leadership roles.
Master of Counselling - City University of Seattle (2021 - 23 )
Completed all course work & capstone research project on religious trauma and spiritual abuse (2023)
Narrative Therapy Certificate - Vancouver School of Narrative Therapy (2019)
Communtity Mental Health Certificate - University of Alberta (2019)
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology & Sociology with Distinction - University of Alberta (Class of 2019)