Chronic Illness is a gritty area of coaching psychology. People with chronic illness have likely grappled with existential themes, explored their own meaning and purpose, and pondered thoughts like "why me". Keith has survived two severe near-death illnesses and this completely changed the tracks of his life.

He's a skilled practitioner and researcher and specialises in helping people move on in life, with (alongside) their illness. In this episode we unpick his personal motivators, his favourite theories that help him and his clients, and the online community he is building for people going through chronic illness.

Here are some time stamps:

01:38 Getting interested in psychology at school

03:44 The "proper beginning", struck by severe rare illness, Wegeners Granulomatosis or Granulomatosis with Polyangitis, a type of vascular disease which is auto-immune

13:52 Getting to know the real me

17:00 The second chance - what inspired him to do psychology is knowing he could use his experiences to help people 

21:18 Learning narrative therapy firstly to make sense of his own past, and then to create a new future going forward

22:37 Struggling with sounding academic and "wonky" yet determined to build a positive community for people with chronic illness

29:10 Deep dive research into career identity loss, as personal story and narrative as a whole

32:30 Working with (not on) anxiety, health anxiety, depression

33:20 Social comparison (its a problem)

35:50 confidence and self motivation using visualisation and clarity

39:30 Working towards goals - not always linear pathways

Keith says:
"I am guided by the core belief that even if we lose what we once had physically, we can still grow intellectually, mentally, and emotionally. A challenging life is not necessarily a catastrophic one. We may not live as fully as once did, but our lives can still have value, meaning and purpose. We might just have to be more creative in how we find it."

You can find Keith on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/illnesscoachingpsychologist/

and LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/keith-mayers-chartered-coaching-psychologist-34684ba

Thanks for listening!

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To continue the conversation go to:
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