When Your Health Enters The Room: Navigating Therapist Self-Disclosure About Health Challenges

Panel Discussion


Workshop Overview

Some clinicians share about their health challenges through their therapy website bios, some disclose one-on-one in session, and some therapists choose not to disclose at all. How we navigate the client conversation(s) that follow is equally as important as whether or not we share.

On this peer-focused panel, we will be discussing how fellow clinicians navigate sharing with clients about their own health challenges, if at all, and how they manage the clinical impact on their client relationships and work. There will be an opportunity for audience participation in the form of sharing insights and asking questions to the panelists.

This workshop will be recorded and available for 30 days following the event.

YOU WILL BE ABLE TO

  1. Discuss different approaches to self-disclosure about personal health challenges

  2. List five approaches to self-disclosing with clients

  3. Describe the clinical impact of therapists health challenges for clients

  4. Describe the clinical impact of therapists self-disclosure for clients


PRESENTED BY

Michelle Horton
LMFT

 
 

Michelle Horton, MA LMFT has a private practice providing online therapy for clients based in CA and during non-Covid times sees clients in-person in Encinitas, CA after relocating from San Francisco. Michelle also works as an advisor and consultant with start-ups and businesses in the mental health and wellness, digital health and positive psychology spaces. She has over 15 years of experience working with individuals, couples, families and parents in community mental health, school and private practice settings.

In her private practice, Michelle provides individual therapy and counseling for career-driven women navigating life transitions, new moms and moms-to-be and founders and entrepreneurs. She helps people who seek a successful and fulfilled life but feel buried under stress, anxiety, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, self-doubt and feelings of overwhelm. Through a warm, collaborative and non-judgmental approach she empowers people to meet their goals and find greater meaning and connection allowing them to thrive in their lives, relationships and career.

Michelle is a graduate of Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology with a Master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. Michelle is a Certified Daring Way Facilitator incorporating Brené Brown's research and methodologies into her work with individuals as well as offering workshops, public speaking and group facilitation.

In addition to expertise in maternal mental health, entrepreneurship and women’s health, as a biracial person and therapist of color she also enjoys focusing her work on supporting those with underrepresented identities including people of color, LGBTQ+ communities, cross cultural experiences and diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Michelle has navigated her own personal history of chronic health challenges including difficult diagnoses in early adulthood, fertility hurdles and high risk pregnancies and loss while working as a therapist and entrepreneur. She enjoys supporting other individuals and fellow therapists in their personal health journeys.

Visit www.michellehortontherapy.com to learn more.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Francesca Owoo
Ph.D., LPCC

 

Francesca Owoo, Ph.D., LPCC has an online private practice that focuses on chronic illness, primary caregivers, and their families. Dr. Owoo was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York to immigrant parents via way of Ghana, West Africa. She is passionate about working with individuals who have a chronic illness due to several chronic illnesses within her immediate family. While working on her Ph.D., she was diagnosed with fibroids, stage 4 endometriosis, and adenomyosis which would result in multiple surgeries, both parents would be diagnosed with cancer (in remission now), and her brother would experience complications of sickle cell disease. Having these personal experiences with chronic illness has driven her passion to work with this population exclusively. 

Dr. Owoo holds a professional license in the states of Maryland and Ohio. She graduated from a dually accredited program with a doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision: Marriage & Family Therapy specialization from The University of Akron in Ohio. She also holds a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from her beloved alma mater The University at Buffalo. She completed her internships at University Hospitals of Cleveland: Otis Moss Center in Cleveland, OH, Summa Health System: St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, and Catholic Charities Marriage Counseling Center in Buffalo, NY. She has 14 years of experience working with marginalized populations in a variety of settings such as psychiatric and medical facilities, community mental health agencies, university clinic settings, and within the school system. 

Dr. Owoo uses systemic-based therapies and a culturally-sensitive therapeutic approach when working with clients to help them in understanding how family-of-origin, generational patterns, and behavior/thoughts can impact our communication style when faced with life-altering events. She guides clients in understanding the connection between the mind, body, and spirit while increasing self-knowledge and self-worth. Overall, clients learn how to establish healthy boundaries, understand the importance of self-care while managing a chronic illness, and transform their mindset towards optimal mental health.

 
 
 
 

Debi Jenkins Frankle
MS, LMFT

Debi is a self-proclaimed grief nerd. She has known a lot of dead people over her lifetime, experienced many other life-changing losses (including a chronic illness that frankly sucks some days), is trained in grief counseling (in fact, she still goes to trainings herself!) and has been a grief skills trainer over the last 20+ years and writes long run-on sentences, much to her high school English teacher’s dismay. 

Debi lives in Los Angeles where she can frequently be found with dirt under her fingernails for she proudly carries on her family’s tradition of amateur gardening. This year she is obsessed with growing brilliantly colored vegetables (think purple sugar snap peas, purple broccoli and purple cauliflower!) to complement whatever meat her husband is cooking on the smoker every weekend.

 
 
 
 
 

Leo Newman
MA, Licensed Professional Counselor

 
 

Leo is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the beautiful foothills of Upstate South Carolina, where he lives with his wife and son. He has been in the mental health field for more than a decade and is currently in private practice where his primary focus is on helping individuals and their loved ones whose lives have been affected by chronic illness or pain, learn to live beyond the challenges of their diagnoses.

Leo began his own journey with chronic health challenges in 2005 after being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease while living overseas. Later diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and End Stage Renal Disease, he has learned many valuable lessons on living life to the fullest in the midst of health challenges.

In addition to his counseling work with clients, Leo provides clinical supervision for licensed associate counselors and interns, which he considers a great privilege. Leo’s other interests include cooking, sometimes successfully, fishing, and enjoying the beautiful area parks with his family.