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Candice | Psychotherapist Life-Changing Injury & Illness

@candicelovelle

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Helping you reclaim life
Specialist therapy for life-changing injury/illness
Navigate change | Identity | Relationships +more
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💭 When someone you love experiences a life-changing injury, illness or acquired physical disability, who makes space for what has changed for you?

Your responsibilities, relationships and plans for the future may have changed profoundly too.

You might feel sadness, frustration, guilt or loss, while believing your own feelings should take a back seat.

But your experience matters too.

✦ In psychotherapy, we can explore how these changes have affected you, make sense of difficult emotions, and consider what you need as you navigate a life you hadn't anticipated.

Your psychological wellbeing deserves attention in its own right.

💭 When you're so focused on someone you love, who is looking after you?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist

Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #PartnersAndLovedOnes #PsychologicalAdjustment #psychotherapy by @candicelovelle

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4 days ago

💭 Has your relationship felt different since your life-changing injury, illness or disability?

Significant physical change can affect much more than one person’s body or abilities. It can change the way two people experience their relationship with one another.

Perhaps roles have shifted. You now need help with things you previously did independently. Intimacy or physical closeness may feel different. Communication may have become harder, or you may find yourself holding things back because you don't want to upset, worry or burden the person you love.

Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether you're grieving what the relationship was, adjusting to what it is now, or trying to work out what you want it to become.

✦ These are things we can explore together in psychotherapy.

We can look at what has changed for you, what you miss, what feels difficult to talk about, and how changes in independence, roles, body image or vulnerability may be affecting the way you relate to your partner — and to yourself within the relationship.

The aim isn't to recreate exactly what existed before.

It can be about helping you understand what you need now, finding ways to communicate some of the things that may have become difficult to say, and exploring how connection and intimacy might be experienced within a relationship that has also had to adapt.

💭 What do you wish your partner understood about how your relationship feels to you now?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”
#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Relationships #Intimacy #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Disability #RelationshipChanges by @candicelovelle

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6 days ago

by @candicelovelle

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18 days ago

💭 Has your body ever felt unfamiliar to you since your injury, illness or disability?

Following significant physical change, the relationship you have with your body can change too.

Perhaps it looks different when you see yourself in the mirror.

It may move, respond or feel different.

You may experience pain, altered sensation, fatigue or physical limitations that weren't part of your life before.

Perhaps your body now requires care, equipment or assistance in ways you never expected.

And sometimes, the difficulty isn't necessarily about disliking your body.

It can simply feel unfamiliar.

A body you have known for years may suddenly need to be understood in a different way.

✦ Psychotherapy can give us space to explore your relationship with your body without assuming that the goal should be to “love” it, feel positive about every change, or reach a particular version of acceptance.

Together, we can explore what has changed in the way you experience your body, the emotions or beliefs connected with those changes, and what feeling more comfortable or connected to yourself might mean for you.

There is no correct way to feel about a body that has undergone significant change.

💭 What would you like your relationship with your body to feel like, even if your body itself cannot return to how it was before?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #BodyImage #BodyAwareness #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Disability by @candicelovelle

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20 days ago

💭 When so much has changed without your choice, where do you still experience a sense of choice in your life?

Life-changing injury, illness or acquired physical disability can involve changes you never asked for.

Your body may work differently.

You may need support you didn't previously need.

Plans may have changed.

Other people may make decisions, recommendations or assumptions about what is best for you.

And when so much feels outside your control, it can become harder to recognise the places where your own voice and choices still matter.

Choice doesn't always have to mean complete independence.

It might be deciding how you want help to be given.

Setting a boundary.

Expressing what you do or don't want.

Choosing what you share about your disability.

Making decisions about relationships, work, rehabilitation or how you spend your time.

Or simply beginning to identify what matters to you now.

✦ In psychotherapy, we can explore where a sense of choice or autonomy may have become lost, and where there may be opportunities to strengthen your connection with your own voice, preferences and values.

This isn't about pretending you can control circumstances that genuinely cannot be changed.

It is about recognising that needing support and having limitations do not automatically remove your right to have agency within your own life.

💭 Within everything you cannot choose, what would you like to have more say over?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Autonomy #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Disability #SelfConcept by @candicelovelle

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21 days ago

💭 Have other people’s reactions to your injury or disability started to change the way you see yourself?

Being stared at. Underestimated. Treated differently. Having assumptions made about what you can or cannot do. Perhaps people speak to the person you’re with rather than directly to you.

These experiences can have a very real psychological impact.

Over time, other people’s reactions can begin to influence the way you think about your body, your capabilities, your confidence and even your sense of who you are.

Psychotherapy isn't about telling you that those experiences shouldn't affect you or suggesting that the problem is simply how you're thinking about them.

✦ Together, we can explore what other people's responses have come to mean to you, which messages you may have begun to absorb, and how those experiences are affecting the relationship you have with yourself.

We can begin to separate other people's assumptions from your own understanding of who you are and work towards a sense of self that feels more grounded in you — rather than continually being shaped by how somebody else sees you.

We may not be able to control other people's perceptions, but we can work on how much power those perceptions have over the way you understand and value yourself.

💭 If you could separate other people’s assumptions from your own voice, what might you begin to see differently about yourself?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍.

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Disability #Identity #SelfConcept #SelfWorth #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy by @candicelovelle

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21 days ago

💭 Have your needs changed since your injury, illness or disability?

In the early stages following a life-changing event, attention may understandably be focused on immediate things.

Treatment. Rehabilitation. Getting home. Managing pain or symptoms. Equipment. Practical support. Learning how to do everyday things differently.

But as life continues, different needs can begin to emerge.

Perhaps the practical side of life has become more established, but you're only now beginning to process what happened.

Maybe questions about identity, relationships or your future have become more prominent.

Perhaps something you managed well six months ago feels harder now — or something that once felt overwhelming no longer carries the same weight.

✦ Psychological adjustment isn't a fixed process with a set sequence or timetable.

Therapy can change as your needs change too.

Together, we can regularly consider what feels most important now, what you would like to understand or experience differently, and whether the focus of our work needs to shift as your life continues to evolve.

Needing something different now doesn't mean you've gone backwards.

It may simply mean that you are in a different place.

💭 If you stopped asking yourself what you “should” need by now, what support would feel most important to you today?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Rehabilitation #EmotionalWellbeing #Disability by @candicelovelle

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22 days ago

💭 Have you ever felt as though one feeling should cancel out another?

Following a life-changing injury, illness or acquired physical disability, there can be pressure, from ourselves as much as from other people, to make sense of how we are feeling.

If I'm grateful, why am I still angry?

If I'm making progress, why am I still struggling?

If I'm enjoying my life, does that mean I shouldn't miss what I had before?

If I'm hopeful about the future, am I allowed to grieve the future I once imagined?

But psychological adjustment doesn't always fit neatly into either/or.

You can appreciate what your body can do now and feel sadness about what has changed.

You can enjoy your life and have moments when living with disability feels incredibly difficult.

You can recognise how far you've come without pretending the journey has been easy.

✦ In psychotherapy, we can make room for experiences that may initially seem contradictory.

Rather than deciding which feeling is the “right” one, we can explore what each is telling you, why it matters, and how you might begin to relate to the full complexity of your experience with less judgement.

You don't have to choose between acknowledging what is difficult and recognising what is good.

There can be room for both.

💭 What two things might be true for you at the same time?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #PsychologicalAdjustment #EmotionalWellbeing #Psychotherapy #Disability #Rehabilitation by @candicelovelle

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23 days ago

by @candicelovelle

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24 days ago

💭 Have you ever felt as though you are constantly having to explain yourself?

Why you need help.

Why you use a particular piece of equipment.

Why you can do something one day but struggle with it another.

Why you need to rest.

Why you approach something differently.

Or even what happened to you in the first place.

Following a life-changing injury, illness or acquired physical disability, questions and curiosity from other people can become part of everyday life.

Some may be well intentioned. Others can feel intrusive.

And when you repeatedly find yourself explaining, reassuring or justifying your needs, it can begin to affect the way you feel about yourself and your right to set boundaries.

✦ Psychotherapy can provide space to explore how these interactions affect you and what you want your boundaries to look like.

Together, we can look at feelings such as guilt, frustration or discomfort that may arise when you don't want to answer, as well as any beliefs that tell you that you need to justify your choices or make other people comfortable.

You are allowed to decide what you share, with whom, and when.

💭 What might it feel like to recognise that not every question requires an answer?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Boundaries #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Disability #SelfWorth by @candicelovelle

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25 days ago

💭 What have you lost that other people might not be able to see?

Following a life-changing injury, illness or acquired physical disability, some changes are immediately apparent.

Others are much less visible.

Perhaps you miss the spontaneity of being able to do something without planning.

The privacy of not needing assistance.

A role you once held within your family.

The confidence you had in your body.

The ease of certain relationships.

The career you expected to continue.

The freedom to make plans without first considering accessibility, energy, symptoms or support.

Or simply the version of everyday life you once took for granted.

These experiences can be difficult to explain, particularly when the people around you are focused on the things you can still do or the progress you have made.

✦ In psychotherapy, losses don't have to be visible to be significant.

Together, we can explore what has changed, what those things represented to you, and why their loss or alteration matters.

That doesn't mean assuming everything different is necessarily a loss.

It means allowing you to decide what has been significant in your own experience — without somebody else determining what you should or shouldn't find difficult.

💭 What do you wish other people understood about the things that have changed for you?

Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability

“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Loss #PsychologicalAdjustment #Psychotherapy #Disability #EmotionalWellbeing by @candicelovelle

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a month ago

💭 Has needing more help since your injury changed the way you feel about yourself?

Losing or experiencing changes in independence can be one of the most difficult adjustments following life-changing injury, illness or disability.

Sometimes the practical change is only part of what hurts.

Needing assistance can become connected with much deeper beliefs:

I should be able to do this myself.
I’m a burden.
I’m less capable now.
I have less to contribute.
I’m not the person I used to be.

When those thoughts become closely connected with how you see yourself, needing help with everyday life can begin to affect self-worth, confidence and identity.

✦ This is something we can actively work with in psychotherapy.

Together, we can explore what independence means to you, where your beliefs about needing help have come from, and whether needing support has become confused with being less capable, valuable or worthy.

The aim isn't to tell you that losing independence doesn't matter. It may matter enormously.
Instead, we can work towards developing a relationship with independence, autonomy and self-worth that makes room for the reality of your life now — including the things you may need support with and the things that remain yours to choose, influence and define.

💭 If needing help didn't mean being “less than”, what might independence mean to you now?
Get in touch with me today via the link in my bio to explore how we could work together. I look forward to hearing from you 😊🤍.

Candice Lovelle | Integrative Psychotherapist
Specialist psychotherapy following life-changing injury, illness and acquired physical disability
“I understand this world and I will take my time to understand you.”

#LifeChangingInjury #AcquiredDisability #Independence #PsychologicalAdjustment #SelfWorth #Identity #Psychotherapy #Disability by @candicelovelle

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a month ago