About
Living with scoliosis can feel overwhelming at times - I've faced my own share of emotional and physical struggles. Through practice and patience I’ve learned to navigate the twists and turns. I'm here to help guide you towards the same.
My Scoli Story
I was first diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager, back when scoliosis screening was common practice in high schools across Australia. The first and only specialist my parents took me to wanted to put me in a metal brace. That offer was swiftly rejected, and the backup treatment offered to me was simply to swim and live my life. That’s it. I was essentially left to my own devices with no discussion of this being a progressive condition that would have lifelong impacts.
I spent my 20s and 30s in the music industry (I’m still there as a coach and counsellor!) freewheeling and largely avoiding anything spine-related. Pregnancy had an impact on my back but was largely manageable. Fast forward to life as a parent of two teenagers and a woman in mid-life, and the picture looks quite different. Covid was when my scoliosis really changed. It was the perfect scoli storm. I was spending hours sitting at my desk trying to create work opportunities. Self-care flew out the window. My back received almost no attention. Covid also coincided with the arrival of perimenopause, and suddenly I was experiencing heightened pain (all while losing height—when you know, you know). Once I was able to be re-screened, the deterioration was significant. My emotional reaction caught me off guard. Suddenly I was afraid and didn’t know who to turn to. My emotional storm led me to seek out community, and I found myself on various online forums where I came to realise I wasn’t alone. This was profoundly reassuring and also moving as what became obvious is that there are many of us out there experiencing this condition with varying degrees of severity and emotional distress.
I really get you and want to help support you to navigate the journey of scoliosis and the emotional ups and downs of chronic back pain.
In case you’re wondering: I have not had surgery. I have been braced (Scolibrace). I do my Schroth exercise program daily (this has helped me immensely). I see an osteopath monthly and try to have regular remedial massage. I do Pilates 3–4 times per week (I am fortunate to have an affordable studio nearby). I think about my bone health. My heat pack is my best friend (even in summer).
With care,
Viv XO
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Working together makes it better
We know our mind and body are uniquely connected and that people living with progressive spine conditions and chronic pain need emotional support from time to time. Here are some areas of focus where my counselling and coaching service can support you.
Emotional support
The need for emotional support can be ongoing but there is often a greater need around diagnosis, condition progression, pre-surgery and post-surgery, and other milestones.
Anxiety, sadness & worries
I will help you look at situations and your emotional responses in new ways; and help you develop better coping strategies and problem-solving skills.
Self-talk
We look at whether our thoughts and internal dialogue is helpful and workable and whether they’re leading you to actions that take you away from the life you wish to have or towards it.
Stress management tools
We can’t avoid all stress but we can learn effective stress management techniques so that we are more resilient and can better weather life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Assertive language skills
Assertiveness is the direct expression of our needs, and the great news is that it is skill that can be learned, so that you can be a powerful advocate for yourself.
Values-based decision-making
Personal values are powerful decision-making tools. Let me help you identify yours, providing a solid criteria for the decisions you make.
Goal setting
Setting and achieving goals, even the smallest ones, can keep us on track and help us feel more in control of our life.
Mindset
Living with a progressive back condition can be emotional and challenging, but your mindset can have a powerful impact on how you cope and navigate it.
Communication
Effective communication can bridge understanding gaps, fostering support from people we’re close with. This not only reduces stress and pain, but leaves us feeling validated and supported.
Body image concerns
I can help you understand that your sense of self-worth does not depend on your appearance, and help you accept your body without any shame.
How I help
You might be wondering what approach I take during sessions. That depends on your needs, hopes, and goals. The first step will be to complete a confidential Intake Form. In our first session, I will find out more about you, why you’ve come to me and what you would like to achieve through counselling or coaching. We then set a plan to achieve these goals and monitor progress along the way.
My practice is informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Solution Focused Therapy.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT) can be especially helpful when managing chronic conditions, with therapy focusing on helping the individual to live by their values, despite the presence of discomfort and pain, and creating distance from unhelpful thoughts. Through various techniques, ACT can help an individual transform their relationship with painful thoughts and feelings and reduce the impact they have on their life.
The name “Acceptance and Commitment therapy” reflects a key message: accept what is out of your personal control and commit to action that improves your life.
The goal of ACT is to increase psychological flexibility. It helps clients consistently choose to act effectively, in line with their values, in the presence of difficult painful thoughts, feelings, sensations, and other uncomfortable psychological events.
Accept your internal experience
This involves learning to non-judgmentally accept your inner thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, memories, urges, and increase our ability to experience events in the present moment.
Choose your directional values
This involves choosing a set of values and life directions that will enhance your vitality, purpose and meaning.
Take action in your valued direction
This involves taking committed action that supports your values, in spite of your back pain and condition.
A chronic or progressive back condition often leads to worry, fear, sadness, anxiety. These psychological events can lead us to avoidance behaviours. We might stop engaging in activities, avoid social situations or people, stop moving our bodies altogether because of the uncomfortable thoughts, stories, rules, and memories our mind is throwing at us.
And of course, we naturally want to get rid of these negative feelings, thoughts, or memories to reduce the psychological suffering we’re experiencing. But usually, the more we try to control or get rid of these negative and difficult thoughts and emotions, the worse they seem to become in the long run. Most of the time, psychological suffering is caused or made worse by control and avoidance strategies.
In ACT we’re trying to transform our relationship with difficult thoughts, so we don’t perceive them as symptoms – but as common, harmless, transient events. In ACT, there is no attempt to try to reduce, change, avoid, suppress, or control these private experiences. We learn to stop fighting with them - to make room for them and allow them to come and go without a struggle so you can live a rich and meaningful life.
Solution Focused Therapy
SFT is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based approach, which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices. It helps people change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems, making it a more empowering alternative to problem-focused approaches. Instead of ruminating on what's wrong, clients are invited to focus on what's right with their bodies, minds, and lives - despite chronic conditions and pain.
Group Coaching Programs
I’m excited to let you know that I’ll be offering affordable group coaching programs in the second half of 2024. These coaching programs will be targeted to specific groups – there will be a teen group offering, a coaching program for older people with scoliosis and so on. These online group programs will be focused on psychological health and strategies for emotional fitness. It will also allow groups to share and exchange ideas as facilitated by a mental health professional.
Get in Touch
Book a consultation with me to see if I’m the right fit for you.
Thank you for visiting my website. If you would like to learn more about my services and how I can help you, reach out through the information below. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 000 or call Lifeline on 13 11 14
Working With Children ID #WWC1270252E
I am based on the beautiful land of the Arakwal Bundjalung People and the wider Bundjalung Nation. I acknowledge the traditional custodians and elders past, present and future, of this land on which I work and live.
Shout out to the following great creatives:
Pictures by Kate Holmes Photography
Videography by Brett Stephens at six-sixty Productions
Makeup by Andrea at Glo Hair
