* By clicking Submit, you permit us to contact you by email, phone, or text. Don’t worry – we won’t send you junk. It’s just to schedule a consultation and see if we can help you!

Goldfinch Counseling

View Yourself in a New Light

Congenital Disabilities

Life is hard.  It’s even harder if you were born with certain congenital disabilities that limit your ways of being in the world.

Your disability might be invisible or visible – both are challenging in different ways.

You may have physical limitations that make it difficult to care for yourself without assistance (which can invoke feelings of shame, embarrassment, helplessness, disgust, frustration, and other complex feelings).

Even if you can care for yourself, you may need other accommodations and have limited access to spaces and experiences, leading to social isolation.

Co-occurring health conditions may further complicate your life, draining your bank account while you struggle with pain and ongoing medical issues.

Maybe people tell you that you are such an “inspiration.”  If you hear that one more time, you might lose it, right?  You don’t want to be someone’s inspiration.  You just want to live your life without being the subject of everyone’s gaze, pity, or curiosity.  Maybe you’re okay with your disability and limitations.  Maybe you’ve worked hard to get to this point of acceptance, and society needs to catch up.

You might have a disability that impacts your life to a lesser degree than described above.  That’s legit too.  Just because you can care for yourself and have access to spaces and experiences doesn’t take away from your challenges.  You might have just as much work to do in learning to accept yourself and embrace your disability.

Disability Support

You may cycle through a range of emotions, such as frustration, anger, sadness, anxiety, and more.  It can be really helpful to look at these emotions closely and examine their triggers and the thoughts accompanying them.  Increased self-awareness, understanding, and compassion can calm emotional distress. Together, we may find patterns of thinking that aren’t serving you and be able to replace these will more constructive thought patterns.

Are you running out of creative ideas for dealing with your challenges?  Do the same situations arise over and over, and nothing you try is really working?  You might benefit from additional coping skills.  Stress management, problem-solving skills, and communication strategies can help you deal with daily life challenges in new ways. Sometimes you just need someone to go through these situations and bring a new perspective and new ideas.

It’s very common for disabled people to struggle with self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-image.  Often, therapy can help you see yourself in a new light and open up new ways of thinking about yourself and your ways of being in the world.

You may be great at advocating for yourself, or you might need help to effectively communicate your needs, rights, and preferences.  Learning to draw boundaries and be assertive can also help.  Ideally, society should accomodate you rather than you fitting into society.

Ready to get started?  Schedule an appointment, and let’s get you to a better place.

* By clicking Submit, you permit us to contact you by email, phone, or text. Don’t worry – we won’t send you junk. It’s just to schedule a consultation and see if we can help you!